Cloud system and method of displaying, by cloud system, content

ABSTRACT

Provided is a cloud providing a cloud service for displaying content, the cloud including: a first server configured to receive a sharing request for content, from an electronic device; a second server configured to determine whether the content is displayable on a display device connected to the cloud, based on a type of a file format of the content; a third server configured to render the content and generate an image file from the rendered content, when it is determined that the content is not displayable; and a fourth server configured to control display of one of the content and the image file on the display device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/037,046, filed on Aug. 13, 2014, in the U.S. Patent and TrademarkOffice, and Korean Patent Application No. 10-2015-0024308, filed on Feb.17, 2015, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

One or more exemplary embodiments relate to a cloud system, and a methodof displaying, by a cloud system, content.

BACKGROUND

Generally, devices, such as printers and multifunction printers (MFP),perform printing or copying using paper media. However, in order todevelop a paperless environment, various means for replacing newspapers,books, and conference materials, which are made of paper, are beingstudied. Currently, many people tend to own at least one display device.In detail, most homes and companies are furnished with a display device,such as a TV. Further, electronic devices having a display panel, suchas smart phones and tablet devices, are widely supplied for variouspurposes such as personal use or educational use. Accordingly, manystudies on printouts that may replace paper are being conducted.

SUMMARY

One or more exemplary embodiments include a cloud system and a method ofdisplaying, by a cloud system, content. Also, one or more exemplaryembodiments include a non-transitory computer-readable recording mediumhaving recorded thereon a program, which when executed by a computer,performs the method.

Additional aspects will be set forth in part in the description whichfollows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may belearned by practice of the presented exemplary embodiments.

According to one or more exemplary embodiments, a cloud providing acloud service for displaying content, the cloud includes: a first serverconfigured to receive a sharing request for content, from an electronicdevice; a second server configured to determine whether the content isdisplayable on a display device connected to the cloud, based on a typeof a file format of the content; a third server configured to render thecontent and generate an image file from the rendered content, when it isdetermined that the content is not displayable; and a fourth serverconfigured to control display of one of the content and the image fileon the display device.

The fourth server may be configured to control the display of thecontent on the display device when it is determined that the content isdisplayable, and control the display of the image file on the displaydevice when it is determined that the content is not displayable.

The cloud may further include a fifth server configured to store thecontent received from the electronic device and further store the imagefile when the content is rendered.

The fifth server may be configured to provide a uniform resource locator(URL) address corresponding to an address of a directory in which thecontent or the image file is stored, to the display device.

The display device may include at least one of a television (TV), alarge format display (LFD), a tablet device, and a smart phone.

The fourth server may be configured to manage a chat room in which theelectronic device and at least one other device are participating, andthe at least one other device participating in the chat room may includethe display device, and the electronic device may be configured toassign the display device as a target device for displaying the content.

The content may be shared by the electronic device or the at least oneother device through the chat room.

The first server may include an extensible messaging and presenceprotocol (XMPP) server configured to map and manage network addressinformation of the electronic device and network address information ofthe display device.

The second server may be realized as a representational state transferapplication programming interface (REST API) module for an agentapplication installed in the display device and capable of communicatingwith the cloud, the second server may be configured to receive networkaddress information and nickname information of the display device fromthe display device and register the network information and nicknameinformation, and the fourth server may be configured to control thesecond server by transmitting a command to the second server such thatthe second server determines the type of the file format when the firstserver receives the sharing request for the content.

The fourth server may be configured to control the display device todisplay a first page of the content or the image file.

The third server may be configured to generate a compressed file bycompressing the image file, and the cloud my further include a fifthserver configured to store the compressed file and provide the storedcompressed file to the display device.

The fifth server may include Riak cloud storage (CS) and a database,wherein the Riak CS may be configured to receive the content from theelectronic device, store a string indicating file information of thecontent, and transmit a file in the content to the database.

According to one or more exemplary embodiments, a system providing acloud service for displaying content, the system includes: an electronicdevice configured to transmit content; a cloud configured to receive thecontent, determine a file format of the content, and render the contentto generate an image file when it is determined that, based on a type ofthe file format, the content is not displayable on a display deviceconnected to the cloud; and a display device configured to receive oneof the content and the image file from the cloud, and display thereceived one of the content or the image file.

The cloud may be configured to control the display device to display thecontent when it is determined that, based on the type of the fileformat, the content is displayable on the display device, and to displaythe image file when it is determined that, based on the type of the fileformat, the content is not displayable on the display device.

The electronic device may be configured to display a chat room in whichthe electronic device and the display device are participating, and,when the content is shared through the chat room, display at least oneof a first button for requesting to print the content, a second buttonfor storing the content, and a third button for requesting to displaythe content, together with the content.

The cloud may be configured to receive the content from the electronicdevice when the third button is selected from the electronic device, andtransmit the image file obtained by rendering the content to the displaydevice.

The display device may be registered in the cloud by using an agentapplication configured to provide network address information andnickname information of the display device to the cloud.

The display device may be registered in the cloud via at least one ofinput of a personal identification number (PIN) code issued by thecloud, recognition of a quick response (QR) code including informationabout the display device and issued by the display device, and input ofa URL address of the cloud.

According to one or more exemplary embodiments, a method of providing acloud service for displaying content, the method includes: receiving, bya first server, a sharing request for content from an electronic device;determining, by a second server, whether the content is displayable on adisplay device connected to a cloud, based on a type of a file format ofthe content; rendering, by a third server, the content to generate animage file when it is determined that the content is not displayable;and controlling, by a fourth server, display of any one of the contentand the image file on the display device.

According to one or more exemplary embodiments, a non-transitorycomputer-readable recording medium has recorded thereon a program, whichwhen executed by a computer, performs the method above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects will become apparent and more readilyappreciated from the following description of the exemplary embodiments,taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram for describing a cloud system that prints or copiescontent stored in a smart phone to a display screen of a television(TV), according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a diagram for describing a display copy according to anexemplary embodiment in comparison with a general hard copy and ageneral soft copy;

FIG. 3 is a diagram for describing types of source devices and types oftarget devices, which may exist on a cloud system, according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a diagram for describing an example of using, by remoteoffices, a function of a display copy, according to an exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of hardware components of a cloud according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a diagram for describing an agent application installed in adisplay device, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a diagram for describing operations of a cloud for performinga function of a display copy in a cloud system, according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a diagram for describing processes of servers included in acloud for performing a function of a display copy in a cloud system,according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 9A is a diagram for describing a process of registering, by anagent application installed in a display device, the display device in acloud, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 9B is a diagram for describing a process of registering, by anagent application installed in a display device, the display device in acloud, according to another exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a diagram for describing inviting, by a chat room applicationbeing executed in an electronic device, a display device, according toan exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a diagram for describing inviting, by an agent applicationbeing executed in a personal computer (PC), a display device, accordingto an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a diagram for describing processes of inviting, by a chatroom application being executed in an electronic device, a displaydevice, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a diagram for describing performing, by an electronic device,a function of a display copy on content transmitted through a chat room,according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a diagram for describing performing, by a PC, a function of adisplay copy on content transmitted through a chat room, according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a diagram for describing performing, by an electronic device,a function of a display copy on content transmitted through a chat room,according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 16 is a diagram for describing a rendering process with respect toa content file, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 17 is a diagram for describing reproducing, by a display device,content transmitted from an electronic device, in a slide show,according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 18 is a diagram for describing receiving, by a display device,metadata related to slide show settings, according to an exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 19 is a diagram for describing display settings for a displaydevice to display content requested for a display copy, according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 20A through 20D are diagrams for describing performing, by adisplay device, a display setting on a screen display phrase, accordingto exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 21 is a diagram for describing displaying a chat message input froman electronic device on a display device, according to an exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 22 is a diagram for describing displaying, by a display device, achat room in which an electronic device is currently participating,according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 23 is a diagram for describing requesting, by an electronic device,for a display copy with respect to content including a quick response(QR) code, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 24 is a diagram for describing registering information aboutmultiple display devices arranged in an array form, in a cloud,according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 25 is a diagram for describing a process of performing, by anelectronic device, a display copy targeting multiple display devicesthat are grouped, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 26 is a diagram for describing displaying any one page of contenton multiple display devices that are grouped, by splitting the any onepage, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 27 is a diagram for describing displaying several pages of contentrespectively on multiple display devices that are grouped, according toan exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 28A is a diagram for describing registering a display device in acloud by using a QR code, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 28B is a diagram for describing registering a display device in acloud by manipulating a remote controller, according to an exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 29 is a diagram for describing a process of selecting, by a devicerequesting for a display copy, a display device by logging in to acloud, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 30A is a block diagram of hardware components of an electronicdevice, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 30B is a block diagram of hardware components of an electronicdevice, which perform an operation of a display copy, according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 31 is a block diagram of hardware components of a display device,according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 32 is a diagram for describing a cloud system that prints or copiesa document scanned by an image forming apparatus to a display screen ofa TV, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 33 is a diagram for describing operations of a cloud forperforming, by a cloud system, a function of Scan-to-DisplayCopy,according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 34 is a diagram for describing reproducing, by a display device,documents scanned by an image forming apparatus, in a slide show,according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 35 is a diagram for describing reproducing, by a plurality ofdisplay devices, documents scanned by an image forming apparatus, in aslide show, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 36A through 36D are diagrams for describing setting, by an imageforming apparatus, a screen display phrase of a display device,according to exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 37 is a diagram for describing requesting, by an image formingapparatus, for Scan-to-DisplayCopy by scanning a photo including a QRcode, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 38 is a diagram for describing a process of performing, by an imageforming apparatus, Scan-to-DisplayCopy targeting multiple displaydevices that are grouped, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 39 is a block diagram of hardware components of an image formingapparatus, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 40 is a flowchart of a method of providing, by a cloud, a cloudservice for displaying content, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 41 is a flowchart of a method of providing, by a cloud, a cloudservice for displaying scan data, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 42 is a diagram for describing storing, by a cloud, content,according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 43 is a diagram for describing storing, by a cloud, content,according to another exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 44 is a diagram for describing storing, by a cloud, content,according to another exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 45 is a diagram for describing a process of providing a history ofcontent shared in a chat room, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 46 is a diagram for describing a user interface (UI) displaying ahistory of content transmitted by a user through a chat room, accordingto an exemplary embodiment; and

FIG. 47 is a diagram for describing a UI displaying a history of contentreceived by a user through a chat room, according to an exemplaryembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, one or more exemplary embodiments will be described morefully with reference to the accompanying drawings to be easily executedby one of ordinary skill in the art. The exemplary embodiments may,however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construedas limited to those set forth herein. In the drawings, elementsirrelevant to the description will not be shown for the sake of clarity,and like elements denote like reference numerals throughout thespecification.

In the specification, when a region is “connected” to another region,the regions may not only be “directly connected”, but may also be“electrically connected” via another device therebetween.

Also, when a part “includes” or “comprises” an element, unless there isa particular description contrary thereto, the part can further includeother elements, not excluding the other elements.

In the following description, terms such as “unit” and “module” indicatea unit for processing at least one function or operation, wherein theunit and the block may be embodied as hardware or software or embodiedby combining hardware and software.

While such terms as “first”, “second”, etc., may be used to describevarious components, such components must not be limited to the aboveterms. The above terms are used only to distinguish one component fromanother.

As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations ofone or more of the associated listed items. Expressions such as “atleast one of,” when preceding a list of elements, modify the entire listof elements and do not modify the individual elements of the list.

Hereinafter, one or more exemplary embodiments will be described indetail with reference to accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for describing a cloud system 1 that prints orcopies content stored in a smart phone to a display screen of atelevision (TV), according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, the cloud system 1 includes a cloud 10, anelectronic device 20, and a display device 30. In the cloud system 1,the electronic device 20 and the display device 30 may be connected toeach other through the cloud 10. The cloud system 1 may further includeother general-purpose components as well as the components shown in FIG.1.

The cloud 10 of the cloud system 1 may be a server that processesvarious types of contents, such as storing, rendering, and transmittingcontent. The cloud 10 may be realized as one server device or a serverdevice group in which several server devices are logically connected toeach other.

The electronic device 20 of the cloud system 1 may be a smart phonehaving a mobile communication function. In other words, the electronicdevice 20 may be a portable device that performs various functions, suchas viewing content, storing content, and transmitting or receivingcontent to and from another device. In FIG. 1, the electronic device 20is a smart phone, but alternatively, the electronic device 20 may beanother type of device, such as a tablet device, a wearable watchdevice, or a wearable glasses device. Also, the electronic device 20 ofthe cloud system 1 is a device for viewing content, storing content, andtransmitting or receiving content to or from another device, and may bea personal computer (PC) or a laptop.

The display device 30 of the cloud system 1 may be a TV. When thedisplay device 30 is a TV, the display device 30 may operate as a devicefor watching a broadcast program received from a broadcasting company.Also, the display device 30 may have a function of displaying content onthe Internet and a function of surfing the web by being connected to theInternet, as well as displaying a broadcast program, like a smart TVthat has been recently released. In FIG. 1, the display device 30 is aTV, but alternatively, the display device 30 may be any one of variousdevices having a display screen, such as a smart phone, a tablet device,a PC, a laptop, and a large format display (LFD).

In other words, as shown in FIG. 1, the electronic device 20 does nothave to be a smart phone, and the display device 30 does not have to bea TV. In other words, functions of the electronic device 20 and thedisplay device 30 may be performed by other types of devices other thanthose shown in FIG. 1.

The electronic device 20 may store a photo 210 that is captured by acamera module (not shown) included in the electronic device 20,collected through the Internet, or received from another user. Theelectronic device 20 may display the photo 210 through a display screen211. According to the cloud system 1 of the current embodiment, a usermay print or copy the photo 210 stored in the electronic device 20 to adisplay screen 311 of the display device 30. In other words, theelectronic device 20 may output the photo 210 to the display screen 311of the display device 30.

In detail, the electronic device 20 transmits a photo file 215 of thephoto 210 stored in the electronic device 20 to the cloud 10. The cloud10 converts a file format of the photo file 215 to be displayable on thedisplay device 30. In other words, the cloud 10 converts the photo file215 to a photo file 315 displayable by the display device 30. At thistime, if the photo file 215 is already displayable by the display device30, the cloud 10 may transmit the photo file 215 to the display device30 without converting the photo file 215. Here, examples of a fileformat displayable by the display device 30 include graphic fileformats, such as Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPG), PortableNetwork Graphics (PNG), Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), and bitmap(BMP), but are not limited thereto.

The cloud 10 transmits the photo file 315 to the display device 30. Thedisplay device 30 displays the photo file 315 on the display screen 311,thereby completing an operation of a display copy requested by theelectronic device 20.

In one or more exemplary embodiments, the term “display copy” may bewidely defined to be a function of outputting content stored in a sourcedevice, such as the electronic device 20, to a display screen of atleast one target device, such as the display screen 311 of the displaydevice 30. In detail, a “display copy” may include a series of cloudservice processes in which a source device, such as the electronicdevice 20, transmits content to the cloud 10, the cloud 10 renders orconverts the content to be displayable by a target device, such as thedisplay screen 311 of the display device 30, and then the target devicedisplays the content through a display screen upon receiving the contentrendered or converted by the cloud 10. Furthermore, the “display copy”may include various functions and operations of a cloud serviceprocessed in the cloud system 1, as will be described below.

In other words, the display copy is different from simply displayingcontent on a target device by transmitting the content directly from asource device to the target device in that the display copy includes aprocess of rendering or converting the content via the cloud 10 suchthat a file format of the content is suitable to the target device.However, the process of rendering or converting the content may beoptional based on a type of the file format of the content.

Also, the display copy is different from display mirroring. Generally,the display mirroring is a technique of controlling different displaydevices to display the same screen like a mirror, and thus is differentfrom the display copy of one or more exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for describing a display copy according to anexemplary embodiment in comparison with a general hard copy and ageneral soft copy.

Referring to FIG. 2, the electronic device 20 (a smart phone) may existon the cloud system 1, as a source device, and the display device 30 (aTV), a multifunction printer (MFP) 40, and PC 50 may exist on the cloudsystem 1, as target devices. The source device and the target devicesmay be connected to each other through the cloud 10.

First, a hard copy is performed as photos 210 and 220 selected by a userthrough a photo gallery application 212 of the electronic device 20 aretransmitted to the MFP 40 through the cloud 10, and the MFP 40 printsthe photos 210 and 220 on print papers 410 and 420 (print media). Inother words, in the hard copy, the photo 210 is printed on the printpaper 410 by the MFP 40 and the photo 220 is printed on the print paper420 by the MFP 40. As such, the hard copy may be defined to be printingthe photos 210 and 220 on papers having an actual physical shape, byusing the MFP 40. In the current embodiment, the hard copy is describedto be performed as the photos 210 and 220 are transmitted to the MFP 40through the cloud 10, but generally, the hard copy may alternatively beperformed as the electronic device 20 and the MFP 40 are directlyconnected to each other.

A soft copy is performed as the photos 210 and 220 selected by the userthrough the photo gallery application 212 of the electronic device 20are transmitted to the PC 50 through the cloud 10, and the PC 50generates a file 510 (“image001.pdf”) in a certain file format, forexample, in a portable document format (PDF). In other words, in thesoft copy, the photos 210 and 220 may be generated in at least one file510 by the PC 50. In the current embodiment, the soft copy is describedto be performed as the photos 210 and 220 are transmitted to the PC 50through the cloud 10, but generally, the soft copy may alternatively beperformed as the electronic device 20 and the PC 50 are directlyconnected to each other.

As described above, the display copy may be defined to be a function ofoutputting the photos 210 and 220 stored in the electronic device 20 tothe display screen 311 of the display device 30 in pieces of imagecontent 310 and 320 (image files). Thus, the display copy has adifferent paradigm from the hard copy and the soft copy.

The display copy may be similar to the hard copy and the soft copy inthat original content is the photos 210 and 220, but is different fromthose in that final outputs are the pieces of image content 310 and 320on the display screen 311 whereas final outputs of the hard copy are theprint papers 410 and 420 and final outputs of the soft copy are the file510. In other words, a type of an output in the display copy isdifferent from those of the hard copy and the soft copy.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for describing types of source devices 500 and typesof target devices 600, which may exist on the cloud system 1, accordingto an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 3, the source devices 500 and the target devices 600may be connected to each other through the cloud 10.

The source devices 500 may include the electronic device 20 (a smartphone), an electronic device 51 (a tablet device), a PC 52, a laptop 53,and an image forming apparatus 54. The source devices 500 are alldevices having various functions of controlling content, such as storingcontent, such as a photo, a moving image, or a document file, editingcontent, and transmitting content to another device, and may includevarious devices other than those shown in FIG. 3. A case in which thesource device 500 is the image forming apparatus 54 will described indetail later with reference to FIG. 32.

The target devices 600 may include an electronic device 21 (a smartphone), the display device 30 (a TV), a display device 61 (an LFD), anelectronic device 62 (a tablet device), a laptop 63, and a PC 64. Thetarget devices 600 are all devices having a display screen, and have afunction of displaying content, such as a photo, a moving image, or adocument file. The target device 600 may include various devices otherthan those shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for describing an example of using, by remoteoffices, a function of a display copy, according to an exemplaryembodiment.

Referring to FIG. 4, it is assumed that a user A using the electronicdevice 20 is working at a Seoul office and a user B using the displaydevice 30 is working at a New York office.

The user A at the Seoul office may store a Word file 230 about minutesin the electronic device 20. The user A may want to show the Word file230 to the user B working at the New York office. At this time, the userA may want to display the Word file 230 on the display device 30 of theuser B, instead of simply transmitting the Word file 230 to the user B.In other words, the user A may want the Word file 230 stored in theelectronic device 20 to be display-copied on the display device 30 ofthe user B when, for example, the user A and the user B are having avideo conference in real-time.

The electronic device 20 transmits a document file 235 (“minutes.doc”)corresponding to the Word file 230 to the cloud 10.

The cloud 10 renders or converts the document file 235 to be displayableby the display device 30, for example, to a graphic file format, such asJPG, PNG, GIF, or BMP. Generally, since the display device 30, such as aTV, cannot display content of each page of a document file, such asMicrosoft Word file or Microsoft PowerPoint file, the document file maybe rendered or converted by the cloud 10.

The cloud 10 transmits an image file 335 (“minutes.jpg”) generated byrendering or converting the document file 235 to the display device 30.In FIG. 4, the image file 335 is transmitted in a JPG file format, butalternatively, may be transmitted in a compressed file format, such as aZIP file.

The display device 30 displays each page 330 of the image file 335through the display screen (e.g., the display screen 311 of FIG. 1).Accordingly, the user B may view the Word file 230 stored in theelectronic device 20 on the display screen (e.g., the display screen 311of FIG. 1) via a display copy requested by the user A.

In FIG. 4, the function of the display copy is performed between theremote offices, but the function of the display copy is unlimitedlyperformed under a network environment in which a source device (theelectronic device 20) and a target device (the display device 30) areconnected to each other through the cloud 10.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of hardware components of the cloud 10 (e.g., ofFIG. 1) according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 5, the cloud 10 may include a print service server 110(a second server), a message server 120 (a first server), a controlserver 130 (a conference ChatBot, a fourth server), a rendering server140 (a third server), and a storage server 150 (a fifth server). Thecloud 10 may further include components other than those shown in FIG.5. In the current embodiment, names of servers included in the cloud 10are not limited and may be variously changed. For example, hereinafter,the print service server 110 may also be referred to as the secondserver, the message server 120 may also be referred to as the firstserver, the control server 130 may also be referred to as the fourthserver, the rendering server 140 may also be referred to as the thirdserver, and the storage server 150 may also be referred to as the fifthserver.

A structure of the cloud 10 may vary. For example, when at least one ofthe print service server 110, the message server 120, the control server130, the rendering server 140, and the storage server 150 corresponds toa physically individual server device, the cloud 10 may be realized bybuilding a framework of virtualizing independent server devices to oneserver device and logically connecting the independent server devices.Alternatively, the cloud 10 may be realized as one server device, andthe print service server 110, the message server 120, the control server130, the rendering server 140, and the storage server 150 may berealized in the one server device in forms of software modules orhardware modules. In other words, the cloud 10 may include a printservice software or hardware server module, a message software orhardware server module, a control software or hardware server module, arendering software or hardware server module, and a storage software orhardware server module. Furthermore, the above two structures may becombined. In other words, the structure of the cloud 10 is not limited.

The print service server 110 is a server that operates as a gateway fora device outside the cloud 10 to connect to the cloud 10, and may berealized by, for example, an open application programming interface(API) module, such as a representational state transfer applicationprogramming interface (REST API) module or a RESTful API module, but isnot limited thereto. For example, the print service server 110 may notonly operate as a gateway, but may also execute an algorithm fordetermining a type of a file format of content or another determiningalgorithm.

The message server 120 is a standardized protocol server fortransferring a message between different devices (e.g., the electronicdevice 20 and the display device 30) through the cloud 10. For example,the message server 120 may be realized as an open protocol-based server,such as an extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP) server, butis not limited thereto, and may be realized as a server using any othertype of protocol.

The control server 130 generates commands for controlling functions andoperations of other servers in the cloud 10, such as the print serviceserver 110, the message server 120, the rendering server 140, and thestorage server 150, and controls the print service server 110, themessage server 120, the rendering server 140, and the storage server 150by transmitting the commands. Meanwhile, when a chat room application isexecuted in the electronic device 20 and the display device 30 of FIG.1, the control server 130 may process information processed in the chatroom, for example, information about transmitting and receiving of achat message and requesting of a display copy. Accordingly, the controlserver 130 may also be referred to as Conference ChatBot. The term ‘chatroom’ is replaceable by another term, such as a conversation room, aconference room, or the like.

The rendering server 140 renders content transmitted from a sourcedevice, such as the electronic device 20 (e.g., of FIG. 1), to besuitable to a display format of a target device, such as the displaydevice 30 (e.g., of FIG. 1). In other words, the rendering server 140may be a rendering engine that renders or converts the content. Asdescribed above, the rendering server 140 may render or convert a Wordfile (“minutes.doc”) transmitted from the electronic device 20 to animage file (“minutes.jpg”). In addition, generally, a printer driverrenders or converts a document file (e.g., a doc file or a ppt file) oran image file (e.g., a jpg file or a gif file) to a languageinterpretable by a printer (e.g., a page description language (PDL)),while the rendering server 140 renders or converts content to bedisplayable by the display device 30.

The storage server 150 stores various types of information processed inthe cloud 10, stores content transmitted from the source device (e.g.,the electronic device 20), or stores rendered content.

Meanwhile, the cloud 10 may be realized by Infrastructure as a Service(Iaas), such as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) or Amazon SimpleStorage Service (S3) provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS).Alternatively, the cloud 10 may not depend upon an Iaas businessoperator or a platform as a services (Paas) business operator, but maybe realized in a cloud architecture that is independently built forbusiness to business (B2B). In other words, architecture of the cloud 10is not limited.

In summary, the message server 120 receives a sharing request forcontent (e.g., metadata of the content) from the electronic device 20(e.g., of FIG. 1). The control server 130 identifies the display device30 (e.g., of FIG. 1) to display the content and controls rendering ofthe content based on specifications of the display device 30. Therendering server 140 renders the content to generate an image filehaving a graphic file format displayable according to the specificationsof the display device 30. The storage server 150 stores the image file.Then, the control server 130 controls the image file to be displayed onthe display device 30.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for describing an agent application 35 installed inthe display device 30, according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 6, the agent application 35 for performing a functionof a display copy is installed in the display device 30 of the cloudsystem 1 of FIG. 1. The agent application 35 may be pre-installed orpre-embedded in the display device 30, or may be downloaded andinstalled in the display device 30 in a form of an application packagefrom an external server. Alternatively, the agent application 35 may bestored only in a storage medium, such as a universal serial bus (USB)storage device, instead of being installed in the display device 30, andprovided in a form of an expansion module supporting a function of theagent application 35 to the display device 30 through a USB port. Inother words, a method of installing the agent application 35 for thedisplay device 30 is not limited.

The agent application 35 may be connected to and communicate with thecloud 10.

In detail, the agent application 35 registers the display device 30 inthe cloud 10 by transmitting various types of identification (ID)information of the display device 30 and a unique name of the displaydevice 30 to the cloud 10 (e.g., a web address or uniform resourcelocator (URL) of the print service server 110 and a web address or URLof the message server 120). Here, the ID information of the displaydevice 30 may include a media access control (MAC) address, a serialnumber, and an internet protocol (IP) address of the display device 30,and the unique name of the display device 30 may be a nickname of thedisplay device 30 arbitrarily set by a user. Also, the agent application35 may also transmit login information of the user of the display device30 to the cloud 10 (e.g., the web address or URL of the print serviceserver 110 and the web address or URL of the message server 120). Then,the agent application 35 may log in to the cloud 10 by using the logininformation of the user.

The agent application 35 may receive various types of controlinformation for displaying content from the cloud 10 (e.g., the controlserver 130 of FIG. 5). For example, the control information may includeinformation about display styles (e.g., a display time or a screenchanging interval) of the content, and a page number of the content tobe displayed.

The agent application 35 may receive rendered content to be displayedthrough the display device 30 from the cloud 10 (e.g., the storageserver 150 of FIG. 5). Here, the cloud 10 may provide information abouta web address or URL of the storage server 150 storing the renderedcontent to the agent application 35, and the agent application 35 mayreceive the rendered content by accessing the web address or URL of thestorage server 150.

In addition, the agent application 35 may communicate with the cloud 10to transmit and receive various types of information, may performvarious controls to perform the function of the display copy on thedisplay device 30.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for describing operations of the cloud 10 forperforming a function of a display copy in the cloud system 1, accordingto an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 7, content stored in the electronic device 20 may bedisplay-copied on the display screen 311 of the display device 30through the cloud 10.

In operation 701, the agent application 35 installed in the displaydevice 30 registers the display device 30 in the print service server110. As described above with reference to FIG. 6, when the agentapplication 35 transmits the ID information (the MAC address, the serialnumber, and the IP address) of the display device 30 and the unique nameof the display device 30 to the print service server 110, the printservice server 110 stores the ID information and the unique name in thestorage server 150, and registers the agent application 35 and thedisplay device 30 in which the agent application 35 is installed. Also,the agent application 35 may transmit the login information, forexample, an ID and a password, of the user. Here, the print serviceserver 110 may map and manage the login information and the IDinformation of the display device 30.

In operation 702, the agent application 35 logs in to the message server120 via a login (not shown). The agent application 35 transmits thelogin information of the user of the display device 30, which is inputby manipulating a user interface (UI) included in the display device 30or a remote controller, to the message server 120. The message server120 transmits the login information to the control server 130, and thecontrol server 130 compares the login information with pre-stored logininformation of the storage server 150 to determine whether the login issuccessful. Meanwhile, the storage server 150 may perform a function ofa lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) server for managingemployee information of a company, and the control server 130 maydetermine whether the login is successful based on whether matchinglogin information exists in the LDAP server of the storage server 150.

In operation 703, the electronic device 20 logs in to the message server120 via a login (not shown). A print application that performs afunction of a display copy may be pre-installed in the electronic device20. After the electronic device 20 executes the print application, logininformation of a user of the electronic device 20 is input, received, orentered. Then, the print application transmits the login information tothe message server 120, and the control server 130 determines whetherthe login is successful by comparing the login information withpre-stored login information of the storage server 150. Meanwhile, inthe current embodiment, as described above with reference to FIG. 3, theelectronic device 51, i.e., a tablet device, or the PC 52 may be usedinstead of the electronic device 20, i.e., a smart phone.

In operation 704, when the electronic device 20 is logged in, thecontrol server 130 generates or initiates a chat room. An account of theuser of the electronic device 20, an account of the user of the displaydevice 30, or an account of a third person may be invited to the chatroom. Alternatively, an account assigned to the display device 30 may beinvited to the chat MOM.

At this time, the control server 130 may assign, to the chat room, apublic attribute for the chat room to be classified into a public chatroom, or a private attribute for the chat room to be classified into aprivate chat room. A public chat room may be a chat room in which anyoneor any device participates, whereas a private chat room may be a chatroom in which only a pre-determined person or a pre-determined devicelimitedly participates. Attributes of such a chat room may be set by theuser of the electronic device 20 or a manager of the cloud 10.

In operation 705, the electronic device 20 transmits a sharing requestfor content to be display-copied to the message server 120. At thistime, the message server 120 may receive the sharing request byreceiving metadata about the content, such as file format information,file size information, and file name information, from the electronicdevice 20. Meanwhile, the electronic device 20 may directly transmitdata about the content, such as image data or document data, to thestorage server 150. The content may be in a file format (e.g., “*.doc”file or “*.ppt” file) that is not directly displayable on the displaydevice 30, or in a file format (e.g., “*.jpg” file or “*.bmp” file) thatis directly displayable on the display device 30.

In operation 706, the control server 130 generates a rendering commandfor performing a rendering operation on the content, and transmits therendering command to the print service server 110. When the sharingrequest is received, the control server 130 controls the print serviceserver 110 by transmitting a command to the print service server 110 todetermine a type of a file format of the content.

In operation 707, the print service server 110 transmits the renderingcommand to the rendering server 140. The rendering server 140 renders orconverts the content received from the electronic device 20 and storedin the storage server 150 to content in an image file type having agraphic file format, based on the rendering command. Also, in addition,the rendering server 140 may generate a compressed file (e.g., a ZIPfile) by compressing the rendered or converted content.

Before transmitting the rendering command to the rendering server 140,the print service server 110 may determine the type of the file formatof the content by using the metadata of the content received from themessage server 120. In other words, the print service server 110 maydetermine whether the content is displayable by the display device 30.When the print service server 110 determines that the content is notdisplayable by the display device 30 assigned by the electronic device20, the rendering server 140 renders or converts the content to an imagefile. When the print service server 110 determines that the content isdisplayable by the display device 30, the rendering server 140 may skipthe rendering operation.

In operation 708, the rendering server 140 stores the rendered orconverted content (an image file) in the storage server 150. Here, asdescribed above, the rendering operation may be skipped based on thetype of the file format of the content.

In operation 709, the rendering server 140 notifies that the renderingoperation is completed to the print service server 110. In other words,the rendering server 140 updates a status of the rendering operation toindicate that the rendering operation is completed. For example, therendering server 140 may receive rendering commands for a display copynot only from the electronic device 20, but also from many otherdevices. Thus, the rendering server 140 may generate a queue ofrendering operations according to an order in which the renderingoperations are requested, and then update a status of a renderingoperation included in the queue according to an order in which therendering operations are completed.

In operation 710, the print service server 110 notifies the messageserver 120 that the rendering operation is completed.

In operation 711, the control server 130 commands the agent application35 to display the content (the content itself or the rendered orconverted content) requested by the electronic device 20 for the displaycopy. Here, the control server 130 may command the agent application 35to display a certain page, for example, a first page, of the content.When it is determined that the content is displayable in operation 707,the control server 130 controls the content to be displayed on thedisplay device 30, and when it is determined that the content is notdisplayable in operation 707, the control server 130 controls therendered or converted content to be displayed on the display device 30.In other words, the control server 130 may control any one of thecontent and the rendered or converted content to be displayed on thedisplay device 30.

In operation 712, the agent application 35 downloads image filescorresponding to the content (or the rendered or converted content) or acompressed file of the image files from the storage server 150. Here,the storage server 150 may provide information about a web address orURL of the content in the storage server 150 to the agent application35, and the agent application 35 may receive the rendered or convertedcontent by accessing the web address or URL of the storage server 150.

In operation 713, the agent application 35 controls the display device30 to display the content on the display screen 311 of the displaydevice 30.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for describing processes of servers included in thecloud 10 for performing a function of a display copy in the cloud system1, according to an exemplary embodiment. Since the processes of FIG. 8are those processed in time-series by the cloud system 1 described abovewith reference to FIG. 7, details described above with reference to FIG.7 may be applied to FIG. 8, even if not explicitly discussed.

In operation 801, the electronic device 20 transmits a sharing requestfor content to be display-copied to the message server 120. Here, thesharing request may include metadata of the content. Meanwhile, contentdata (e.g., image data or document data) may be transmitted to andstored in the storage server 150. In other words, the electronic device20 shares the content with the cloud 10.

In operation 802, the message server 120 transmits the sharing requestreceived from the electronic device 20 to the control server 130. Inother words, the message server 120 shares the content with the controlserver 130. The control server 130 may control the storage server 150such that the content (or data indicative of the content) received fromthe electronic device 20 is stored in the storage server 150.

In operation 803, the control server 130 generates the rendering commandwith respect to the content requested to be display-copied, andtransmits the rendering command to the print service server 110. Here,the rendering operation is performed such that the content is renderedor converted to be displayable by the display device 30.

In operation 804, the print service server 110 transmits the renderingcommand to the rendering server 140. The rendering server 140 stores therendering operation in the queue. Before transmitting the renderingcommand to the rendering server 140, the print service server 110 maydetermine the type of the file format of the content. In other words,the print service server 110 may determine whether the content isdisplayable on the display device 30. Hereinafter, it is assumed thatthe content is not displayable on the display device 30.

In operation 805, when it is time to process the rendering operationstored in the queue, the rendering server 140 requests the storageserver 150 to transmit the content to be rendered.

In operation 806, the storage server 150 transmits the content to therendering server 140.

In operation 807, the rendering server 140 renders or converts thecontent transmitted from the electronic device 20 to be displayable onthe display device 30.

In operation 808, when the rendering operation is completed, therendering server 140 stores the rendered content (the image files or thecompressed file of the image files) in the storage server 150.

In operation 809, the rendering server 140 notifies the print serviceserver 110 that the rendering operation stored in the queue iscompleted. In other words, the rendering server 140 updates the queue toindicate that the status of the rendering operation is completed.

In operation 810, the print service server 110 notifies the agentapplication 35 that the rendering operation is completed.

In operation 811, the agent application 35 requests the storage server150 to transmit the rendered or converted content.

In operation 812, the storage server 150 transmits the rendered orconverted content to the agent application 35. Here, the storage server150 may provide a storage directory, such as a web address or URL, inthe storage server 150 to the agent application 35 for an access of theagent application 35. Then, the agent application 35 may download therendered or converted content by accessing the web address or URL.

In operation 813, the agent application 35 controls the display device30 such that the content requested to be display-copied is displayed onthe display screen 311 of the display device 30.

FIG. 9A is a diagram for describing a process of registering, by theagent application 35 installed in the display device 30, the displaydevice 30 in the cloud 10, according to an exemplary embodiment.

While describing FIG. 9A, details about some processes of transferringdata and information between the servers 110 through 150 of the cloud10, which have been described with reference to other drawings, may notbe explicitly discussed, but such some processes may also be applied toFIG. 9A.

In operation 901, the agent application 35 installed in the displaydevice 30 sets login information and name information to be assigned tothe display device 30, which are input from the user of the displaydevice 30. Here, the login information may be intrinsic logininformation assigned to the display device 30 or assigned to the user ofthe display device 30.

In operation 902, the agent application 35 transmits the logininformation and the name information to the print service server 110 ofthe cloud 10. The print service server 110 of the cloud 10 transmits thelogin information and the name information to the control server 130.

In operation 903, the control server 130 issues a personalidentification number (PIN) code for identifying the agent application35. Here, the PIN code issued by the control server 130 may be displayedon the display screen of the display device 30 to be provided to theuser, or may be displayed on another device owned by the user of thedisplay device 30 to be provided to the user.

In operation 904, the user of the display device 30 inputs the PIN codeissued by the control server 130 by using a UI (not shown) of thedisplay device 30 or a remote controller.

In operation 905, the agent application 35 transmits ID information ofthe display device 30, the ID information including a MAC address, an IPaddress, or a serial number of the display device, to the print serviceserver 110, together with the PIN code. The print service server 110transmits the ID information and the PIN code to the control server 130.

In operation 906, the control server 130 compares the received PIN codeand the issued PIN code, and when they match, registers the agentapplication 35. Here, by registering the agent application 35, thedisplay device 30 in which the agent application 35 is installed mayalso be registered.

FIG. 9B is a diagram for describing a process of registering, by theagent application 35 installed in the display device 30, the displaydevice 30 in the cloud 10, according to another exemplary embodiment.

While describing FIG. 9B, details about some processes of transferringdata and information between the servers 110 through 150 of the cloud10, which have been described with reference to other drawings, may notbe explicitly discussed, but such some processes may also be applied toFIG. 9B.

In operation 911, the display device 30 installs the agent application35. The agent application 35 may be installed in the display device 30by receiving an installation file of the agent application 35 from anexternal device (not shown) connected to the display device 30wirelessly or wiredly. Alternatively, the agent application 35 may beinstalled in the display device 30 as a USB device (not shown) in whichthe installation file of the agent application 35 is installed isinserted into a USB port (not shown) of the display device 30 and thedisplay device 30 receives the installation file from the USB device.Alternatively, when the display device 30 is a smart TV, the agentapplication 35 may be installed in the display device 30 by downloadingthe installation file of the agent application 35 through an applicationstore for a smart TV. After the agent application 35 is installed, thedisplay device 30 executes the agent application 35.

In operation 912, the display device 30 in which the agent application35 is executed displays a QR code for registering the display device 30(the agent application 35). Here, the QR code may include informationabout a URL address for accessing the cloud 10.

In operation 913, an electronic device 92 recognizes the QR codedisplayed on the display device 30. Here, the electronic device 92 maybe the same as the electronic device 20 (e.g., of FIG. 1) described inother drawings or may be another device.

In operation 914, the electronic device 92 accesses the cloud 10 havingthe URL address obtained by recognizing the QR code. Then, theelectronic device 92 requests the cloud 10 to register the displaydevice 30 (or, specifically, the agent application 35).

In operation 915, manager PC 91 accesses a web portal (not shown)provided by the cloud 10 (e.g., via the print service server 110) andlogs onto the web portal by using a manager account.

In operation 916, the display device 30 transmits ID information of thedisplay device 30 to the cloud 10. Here, the ID information may includea MAC address, a serial number, and an IP address of the display device30.

In operation 917, the cloud 10 issues a PIN code for authentication.

In operation 918, the manager PC 91 sets a name or a nickname of thedisplay device 30 by using the web portal. Then, the manager PC 91displays the PIN code issued by the cloud 10. A manager of the managerPC 91 notifies the displayed PIN code to the user of the display device30.

In operation 919, the manager PC 91 transmits information about the nameor the nickname of the display device 30 to the cloud 10.

In operation 920, the user of the display device 30 inputs the PIN codenotified by the manager through a PIN code input window (not shown)displayed on the display device 30. Here, the user of the display device30 may input the PIN code by using a remote controller or the like.

In operation 921, the cloud 10 receives the PIN code input from thedisplay device 30. The cloud 10 (the control server 130) compares thePIN code input from the display device 30 and the PIN code issued by thecloud 10.

In operation 922, when the PIN codes match, the cloud 10 (the controlserver 130) registers the display device 30 (or, specifically, the agentapplication 35).

Unless there is contradiction in registration processes, an order ofperforming the processes of FIG. 9B may be slightly altered.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for describing inviting, by a chat room applicationbeing executed in the electronic device 20, the display device 30,according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 10, it is assumed that the chat room application isbeing executed in the electronic device 20 of the user A, and theelectronic device 20 and an electronic device (not shown) of a user Bare first invited to a chat room 1010 of the chat room application. Asdescribed above, the chat room 1010 may be generated and managed by thecontrol server 130 (Conference ChatBot) of the cloud 10.

The user A may invite the display device 30 (a TV) of the user A to thechat room 1010. When invitation of the display device 30 is requestedfrom the user A in the chat room 1010, the electronic device 20transmits an invitation request with respect to the display device 30 tothe message server 120 of the cloud 10. The message server 120 transmitsthe invitation request to the control server 130 in the cloud 10.

The control server 130 identifies the display device 30 requested to beinvited, and determines whether the display device 30 is currentlyregistered in the cloud 10. When the display device 30 is registered inthe cloud 10, the control server 130 invites the display device 30 tothe chat room 1010. When the display device 30 is not registered in thecloud 10, the control server 130 may notify the user A to register thedisplay device 30 by using the agent application 35.

After the display device 30 is invited to the chat room 1010 by thecontrol server 130, a phrase indicating that the invitation is completedmay be displayed on the chat room 1010.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for describing inviting, by the agent application35 being executed in the PC 52, the display device 30, according to anexemplary embodiment.

Unlike FIG. 10 in which a source device is the electronic device 20,FIG. 11 illustrates that the PC 52 is a source device. A cloudapplication 1110 is installed in the PC 52. The cloud application 1110installed in the PC 52 may use various services, such as a display copyservice, a CS service, a cloud print (hard copy or soft copy) service,provided by the cloud 10. The cloud application 1110 is a type of agentapplications, such as, for example, the agent application 35 of FIG. 7.The cloud application 1110 may include a function of the chat roomapplication executed in the electronic device 20, which is describedabove with reference to FIG. 10.

The user A of the PC 52 may execute the cloud application 1110 on the PC52, and activate a chat room 1120 from various functions of the cloudapplication 1110. In FIG. 11, it is assumed that the PC 52 of the user Aand an electronic device (not shown) of the user B are first invited tothe chat room 1120. As described above, the chat room 1120 may begenerated and managed by the control server 130 (Conference ChatBot) ofthe cloud 10.

The user A may click a “Add Buddy” button 1121 through a UI of the chatroom 1120 so as to invite the display device 30 (a TV) of the user A tothe chat room 1120. When the “Add Buddy” button 1121 is clicked, a popupwindow 1130 displaying lists of addable contact numbers and devices maybe displayed. When a “user A's TV” 1131 is selected and an OK button1132 is clicked from the popup window 1130, invitation of the displaydevice 30 is requested.

When the invitation of the display device 30 is requested by the user Ain the chat room 1120, the PC 52 transmits an invitation request withrespect to the display device 30 to the message server 120 of the cloud10. The message server 120 transmits the invitation request to thecontrol server 130.

The control server 130 identifiers the display device 30 requested to beinvited, and determines whether the display device 30 is currentlyregistered in the cloud 10. When the display device 30 is registered inthe cloud 10, the control server 130 invites the display device 30 tothe chat room 1120. When the display device 30 is not registered in thecloud 10, the control server 130 may notify the user A to register thedisplay device 30 by using the agent application 35.

After the display device 30 is invited to the chat room 1120 by thecontrol server 130, a phrase indicating that the invitation is completedmay be displayed on the chat room 1120.

Referring to FIGS. 10 and 11, a source device is not limited as long asthe chat room application or the cloud application 1110 is installableand operable, like the electronic device 20 (e.g., of FIG. 10) or the PC52 (e.g., of FIG. 11).

FIG. 12 is a diagram for describing processes of inviting, by a chatroom application (e.g., similar to the chat room application 1110 ofFIG. 11) being executed in the electronic device 20, the display device30, according to an exemplary embodiment.

While describing FIG. 12, details about some processes of transferringdata and information between the servers 110 through 150 of the cloud10, which have been described with reference to other drawings, may notbe explicitly discussed, but such some processes may also be applied toFIG. 12.

In operation 1201, the user of the electronic device 20 inputs logininformation for executing the chat room application.

In operation 1202, the user of the display device 30 inputs logininformation for executing the agent application 35. When the displaydevice 30 logs in to the cloud 10, a chat room list participatable bythe display device 30 may be displayed on the display device 30. Thechat room list may be received from the cloud 10. This time, the chatroom list may include a public chat room to which a public attribute isassigned. Also, if a private chat room the display device 30 is allowedto participate exists, the chat room list may include the private chatroom to which a private attribute is assigned. The chat room listincludes a chat room generated by the electronic device 20 throughoperation 1205.

In operation 1203, the electronic device 20 requests the message server120 to generate a chat room based on the login information.

In operation 1204, the message server 120 requests the request togenerate the chat room to the control server 130.

In operation 1205, the control server 130 generates the chat room. Atthis time, the control server 130 may assign a public attribute or aprivate attribute to the generated chat room.

In operation 1206, the control server 130 transmits information aboutthe chat room to the message server 120.

In operation 1207, the message server 120 transmits the informationabout the chat room to the electronic device 20.

In operation 1208, the electronic device 20 activates the chat room onthe chat room application.

In operation 1209, the electronic device 20 requests invitation of thedisplay device 30 (a TV) in the chat room.

In operation 1210, the electronic device 20 transmits a name of thedisplay device 30 requested to be invited to the message server 120.

In operation 1211, the message server 120 transmits the name of thedisplay device 30 to the control server 130.

In operation 1212, the control server 130 identifies the name of thedisplay device 30. In other words, the control server 130 determineswhether the name of the display device 30 is included in a list ofdevices that have been registered.

In operation 1213, the control server 130 notifies an invitation requestwith respect to the display device 30 to the message server 120.

In operation 1214, the message server 120 notifies the invitationrequest to the agent application 35 of the display device 30.

In operation 1215, after the display device 30 is invited to the chatroom, the electronic device 20 may display a phrase indicating that theinvitation is completed.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for describing performing, by the electronic device20, a function of a display copy on content transmitted through a chatroom 1310, according to an exemplary embodiment.

In FIG. 13, the chat room application is being executed in theelectronic device 20 of the user A, and the electronic device 20 of theuser A, an electronic device (not shown) of the user B, and the displaydevice 30 (a TV) of the user A are invited to the chat room 1310activated on the chat room application.

The user A may chat with the user B through the chat room 1310. Also,the user B may transmit content 1320 in a photo file to the user Athrough the chat room 1310.

When the content 1320 is transmitted in the chat room 1310, variousbuttons, such as a store button 1301, a print button 1302, and a displaycopy button 1303, may also be displayed in a dialogue balloon (or adialogue bubble) including the content 1320. The store button 1301 isused to store the content 1320 in the electronic device 20 of the userA. The print button 1302 is used to cloud-print (hard-copy) the content1320 by using an MFP (e.g., the MFP 40 of FIG. 2) of the user A. Thedisplay copy button 1303 is used to display-copy the content 1320 byusing the display device 30 of the user A.

When the user A clicks the display copy button 1303 in the chat room1310, the content 1320 transmitted from the user B is transmitted to thecloud 10. Then, the cloud 10 renders or converts the content 1320 toobtain content 1330 via the processes described above with reference toFIGS. 7 and 8, and transmits the content 1330 to the display device 30.The content 1330 is displayed on the display screen of the displaydevice 30 according to a request for a display copy by the electronicdevice 20.

In FIG. 13, since the content 1320 is a photo file, the cloud 10 may notrender or convert the content 1320. However, even if the content 1320 isa photo file, the cloud 10 may render or convert the content 1320 toadjust a display format of the display device 30, such as resolution ofthe content 1320. In other words, whether to omit the rendering orconverting in the cloud 10 may be determined based on a display formatof the display device 30 that is a target device or a file format of thecontent 1320.

FIG. 14 is a diagram for describing performing, by the PC 52, a functionof a display copy on content transmitted through a chat room 1420,according to an exemplary embodiment.

In FIG. 14, a cloud application 1410 is being executed in the PC 52 ofthe user A, and the PC 52 of the user A, an electronic device (notshown) of the user A, the display device 30 (a TV) of the user A,Printer 1, Printer 2, etc. are invited to the chat room 1420 activatedon the cloud application 1410.

The user A may chat with the user B through the chat room 1420. Also,the user B may transmit content 1430 in a photo file to the user Athrough the chat room 1420. Meanwhile, if the user A wants to transmitan image file or a document file to the user B, the user A clicks a“Share Item” button 1440 to search files stored in the PC 52 andtransmits a selected file to the user B.

When the content 1430 is transmitted in the chat room 1420, variousbuttons, such as a store button 1401, a print button 1402, and a displaycopy button 1403, may be displayed in a dialogue balloon including thecontent 1430, together with the content 1430. The store button 1401 isused to store the content 1430 in the PC 52 of the user A. The printbutton 1402 is used to cloud-print (hard-copy) the content 1430 to theMFP (e.g., the MFP 40 of FIG. 2) of the user A. The display copy button1403 is used to display-copy the content 1430 to the display device 30(a TV) of the user A.

When the user A clicks the display copy button 1403 in the chat room1420, the content 1430 transmitted from the user B is transmitted to thecloud 10. Then, the cloud 10 renders or converts the content 1430 toobtain content 1450 via the processes described above with reference toFIGS. 7 and 8, and transmits the content 1450 to the display device 30.The content 1450 is displayed on the display screen 311 of the displaydevice 30 according to a request for a display copy by the electronicdevice 20.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for describing performing, by the electronic device20, a function of a display copy on content transmitted through a chatroom, according to an exemplary embodiment.

While describing FIG. 15, details about some processes of transferringdata and information between the servers 110 through 150 of the cloud10, which have been described with reference to other drawings, may notbe explicitly discussed, but such some processes may also be applied toFIG. 15.

In operation 1501, the electronic device 20 requests for a display copyof content. The display copy may be requested by clicking the displaycopy button 1303 or 1403 of FIG. 13 or 14.

In operation 1502, the electronic device 20 transmits the contentrequested to be display-copied to the control server 130.

In operation 1503, the control server 130 commands the rendering server140 to render the content.

In operation 1504, the rendering server 140 renders or converts thecontent.

In operation 1505, the storage server 150 stores the rendered orconverted content (image files or a compressed file of the image files).

In operation 1506, the control server 130 transmits a command to displaythe rendered content to the agent application 35 of the display device30.

In operation 1507, the agent application 35 downloads the renderedcontent (the image files or the compressed file of the image files) fromthe storage server 150.

In operation 1508, the display device 30 displays the content (the imagefiles) requested to be display-copied.

FIG. 16 is a diagram for describing a rendering process with respect toa content file, according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 16, the electronic device 20 transmits a document file1610 (“My Documents.doc”) requested to be display-copied to therendering server 140. As described above, it may be assumed that thedocument file 1610 prepared by using Microsoft Word is in a file formatthat is not directly displayable by the display device 30.

The document file 1610 may include content of total three pages, i.e.,first through third pages 1611 through 1613. For example, in thedocument file 1610, content of the first page 1611 may be a photo, andcontent of the second and third pages 1612 and 1613 may be an essay.

The rendering server 140 renders or converts the first through thirdpages 1611 through 1613 of the document file 1610 according to a displayformat of the display device 30 to obtain rendered or converted firstthrough third pages 1621 through 1623. For example, the rendering server140 may render or convert each of the first through third pages 1611through 1613 to a graphic file format, such as JPG, GIF, or BMP. Then,the rendering server 140 may generate a compressed file 1620 (“MyDocuments.zip”) by compressing the rendered or converted first throughthird pages 1621 through 1623.

The rendering server 140 transmits the compressed file 1620 to thedisplay device 30. The agent application 35 installed in the displaydevice 30 decompresses the compressed file 1620. Accordingly, the agentapplication 35 obtains image content of the rendered or converted firstthrough third pages 1621 through 1623 from the compressed file 1620. Thedisplay device 30 displays the image content of the rendered orconverted first through third pages 1621 through 1623 to complete thedisplay copy requested by the electronic device 20. At this time, when acertain page, for example, the rendered or converted first page 1621, isrequested to be displayed from the control server 130, the displaydevice 30 may first display the certain page, i.e., the rendered orconverted first page 1621.

Meanwhile, in FIG. 16, the rendering server 140 provides the content1610 in form of the compressed file 1620 to the display device 30, butalternatively, the rendering server 140 may provide image filesincluding the rendered or converted first through third pages 1621through 1623, instead of the compressed file 1620, to the display device30. According to an exemplary embodiment, the rendering server 140 mayor may not perform compression based on a total file size of image filesto be compressed. For example, when the total file size is larger than athreshold size, the rendering server 140 may generate a compressed file,and when the total file size is equal to or smaller than the thresholdsize, the rendering server 140 may not generate a compressed file. Inother words, a file generating method of the rendering server 140 is notlimited.

FIG. 17 is a diagram for describing reproducing, by the display device30, content transmitted from the electronic device 20, in a slide show,according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 17, the user of the electronic device 20 selectsphotos 1711 and 1712 through a photo gallery application 1710. Then, theelectronic device 20 displays a UI screen 1720 showing slide showsettings for reproducing a slide show of the photos 1711 and 1712. Here,a slide show may be reproduced by the display device 30 that is a targetdevice of a display copy, instead of the electronic device 20.

The slide show settings may include a setting on an automatic screenchange time 1721, a setting on a change effect 1722, a repetitionsetting 1723, and a section setting 1724. The slide show settings forreproducing a slide show, which are input through the electronic device20, may be converted to metadata 1740.

In FIG. 17, a slide show of the photos 1711 and 1712 in the photogallery application 1710 is reproduced, but alternatively, contentmanufactured by using presentation applications such as, for example,Microsoft PowerPoint application, or word processing applications suchas, for example, Microsoft Word application stored in the electronicdevice 20 may be reproduced in a slide show.

The electronic device 20 transmits photo files 1730 of the selectedphotos 1711 and 1712, and the metadata 1740 to the cloud 10.

The cloud 10 generates an image file 1750 (or a compressed file) byrendering or converting the photo files 1730 to an image file format viathe rendering or converting processes described above. Then, the cloud10 transmits the image file 1750 and the metadata 1740 to the displaydevice 30.

The display device 30 reproduces photos 1760 and 1770 included in theimage file 1750 based on the slide show settings included in themetadata 1740. For example, the photos 1760 and 1770 may be reproducedto be changed at intervals of 10 seconds in a flying effect, as set bythe electronic device 20.

FIG. 18 is a diagram for describing receiving, by the display device 30,metadata related to slide show settings, according to an exemplaryembodiment.

Referring to FIG. 18, content transmitted from a source device, forexample, the electronic device 20 of FIG. 17, which requested for adisplay copy, may be rendered or converted, and then stored in thestorage server 150 of the cloud 10. Also, the metadata related to slideshow settings may be stored in the storage server 150.

The agent application 35 of the display device 30 receives the renderedor converted content and the metadata from the storage server 150 of thecloud 10. Then, the display device 30 reproduces the content in a slideshow based on the slide show settings (e.g., in the slide show screen1720 of FIG. 17) included in the metadata.

FIG. 19 is a diagram for describing display settings for the displaydevice 30 to display content requested for a display copy, according toan exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 19, the display device 30 may set, for example, ascreen display region 1910, a screen display magnification 1920, and ascreen display phrase 1930, as the display settings. Such displaysettings may be managed by the agent application 35.

The display setting on the screen display region 1910 is a setting on alocation of a region where the content is to be displayed or a locationof a margin. For example, the display device 30 may set a top margin1901, a bottom margin 1902, a left margin 1903, and a right margin 1904,as the display setting on the screen display region 1910. The contentmay be displayed in a region excluding the top, bottom, left, and rightmargins 1901 through 1904.

The display setting on the screen display magnification 1920 is asetting on a proportion of the region where the content is displayed ina screen of the display device 30. For example, when the screen displaymagnification 1920 is 80% 1905, only 80% of the screen of the displaydevice 30 may be set as the region where the content is to be displayed,and 20% of the screen may be set as the margin. For example, when thescreen display region 1910 is set to be the top margin 1901 and thescreen display magnification 1920 is set to be 80%, the display device30 uses 20% at the top as the margin and 80% at the bottom to displaythe content.

The display setting on the screen display phrase 1930 is a setting on aphrase to be displayed in a margin. For example, when the screen displayregion 1910 is set to be the top margin 1901, the screen displaymagnification 1920 is set to be 80%, and the screen display phrase 1930is set to be “Today's subject is marketing strategy in US market”, thedisplay device 30 displays a phrase “Today's subject is marketingstrategy in US market” 1906 in 20% at the top set as the margin anddisplay the content in 80% at the bottom to display the content fromamong the screen of the display device 30.

Meanwhile the display settings may be set by a remote controller (notshown) for manipulating the display device 30, by a target device (notshown), such as a touch screen of the display device 30, or by a sourcedevice (not shown), such as the electronic device 20 (e.g., of FIG. 17)or the MFP 40 (e.g., of FIG. 2) described above.

FIGS. 20A through 20D are diagrams for describing performing, by thedisplay device 30, a display setting on a screen display phrase,according to exemplary embodiments.

Referring to FIGS. 20A through 20D, the display setting may be input bya remote controller 37 that manipulates various functions of the displaydevice 30. Alternatively, although not shown in FIGS. 20A through 20D,the display setting may be input by another type of a controller, suchas a wearable device, which may be paired with the display device 30 tomanipulate various functions of the display device 30.

Referring to FIG. 20A, a user may manipulate the remote controller 37 todirectly input the screen display phrase “Today's subject is marketingstrategy in US market” through a setting screen 2001 on the displaydevice 30. The screen display phrase set as such may be displayed in amargin 2000 where content is not displayed.

In FIGS. 20B through 20D, the display device 30 may display a shortmessage service (SMS) or a posting existing in an external device or anexternal server, instead of displaying the screen display phrase inputby the user like FIG. 20A.

Referring to FIG. 20B, the user may manipulate the remote controller 37to input a phone number of a smart phone to which an SMS or a multimediamessaging service (MMS) is to be provided, through a setting screen 2002on the display device 30. Accordingly, the SMS or the MMS may bedisplayed in the margin 2000.

Referring to FIG. 20C, the user may manipulate the remote controller 37to input social networking service (SNS) account information (ID and apassword) for logging in to an SNS server through a setting screen 2003on the display device 30. Accordingly, a recent posting updated in anSNS may be displayed in the margin 2000.

Referring to FIG. 20D, the user may manipulate the remote controller 37to input information (a server address, ID, and a password) required toidentify a web server and log in to the web server, through a settingscreen 2004 on the display device 30. Accordingly, a recent noticeupdated in the web server may be displayed in the margin 2000.

FIG. 21 is a diagram for describing displaying a chat message 2120 inputfrom the electronic device 20 on the display device 30, according to anexemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 21, as described above, the cloud 10 may manage a chatroom 2110 in which the electronic device 20 of the user A and thedisplay device 30, for example, a TV, of the user B are participating,and the chatting message 2120 input through the chat room 2110.Accordingly, the electronic device 20 transmits the chat message 2120input to the chat room 2110 to the cloud 10.

When a margin 2130 is set in the display device 30, the cloud 10 maytransmit the chat message 2120 to the display device 30, and the displaydevice 30 may display the chat message 2120 in the margin 2130. At thistime, the display 30 may display only the chat message 2120 that isrecently input to the chat room 2110, in the margin 2130.

FIG. 22 is a diagram for describing displaying, by the display device30, a chat room 2210 in which the electronic device 20 is currentlyparticipating, according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 22, as described above, the cloud 10 may manage thechat room 2210 in which the electronic device 20 of the user A and thedisplay device 30, for example, a TV, of the user B are participating,and chat messages input through the chat room 2210.

When a margin 2220 is set in the display device 30, the cloud 10 maytransmit information about the chat room 2210 in which the displaydevice 30 is currently participating, and the chat messages of the chatroom 2210 to the display device 30, and the display device 30 maydisplay the chat room 2210 in the margin 2220, similarly to theelectronic device 20.

FIG. 23 is a diagram for describing requesting, by the electronic device20, for a display copy with respect to content including a QR code,according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 23, the electronic device 20 transmits a photo file2320 of a photo 2310 stored in the electronic device 20 to the cloud 10.Here, an image of a QR code 2315 is included in the photo 2310.

The cloud 10 renders or converts the photo file 2320 to be displayableby the display device 30. In other words, the cloud 10 renders orconverts the photo file 2320 to a photo file 2330 (or an image file)displayable by the display device 30. Here, since the QR code 2315 is apartial image of the photo 2310, a photo 2350 obtained by rendering orconverting the photo file 2320 to the photo file 2330 may also includethe QR code 2315. The cloud 10 transmits the photo file 2330 of thephoto 2350 to the display device 30 (the agent application 35).

When the photo 2350 of the photo file 2330 includes the QR code 2315,the agent application 35 of the display device 30 recognizes the QR code2315. For example, when the QR code 2315 indicates a certain URL address(“http://www.car-information.com”), the agent application 35 may analyzethe QR code 2315 and recognize the certain URL address.

When a margin 2240 is set in the display device 30, the display device30 may display the certain URL address included in the QR code 2315 inthe margin 2240, and display the photo 2350 including the QR code 2315in a region other than the margin 2240.

FIG. 24 is a diagram for describing registering information aboutmultiple display devices arranged in an array form, in the cloud 10,according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 24, the number of devices corresponding to targetdevices of a display copy may be at least two devices, wherein thedevices may be grouped. For example, a display device group A 2410 ofFIG. 24 may include total 9 display devices Device1 through Device9. Thedisplay devices Device1 through Device9 of the display device group A2410 may be arranged in a 3×3 array form. Alternatively, a displaydevice group B 2420 of FIG. 24 may include total 4 display devicesDevice1 through Device4. The display devices Device1 through Device4 ofthe display device group B 2420 may be arranged in a 2×2 array form. Thenumber and arranged form of display devices are arbitrarily set in FIG.24, and thus are not limited thereto.

An agent application 2415 may be installed in each of the displaydevices Device1 through Device9 in the display device group A 2410.Alternatively, the display devices Device1 through Device4 in thedisplay device group B 2420 may be controlled by an agent application2425 installed in an external device. Alternatively, an agentapplication may be installed in one of display devices in a displaydevice group, and the display devices may be controlled by the agentapplication. As such, an exemplary embodiment is not limited.

In FIG. 6, a process of registering the display device 30 in the cloud10 through the agent application 35 installed in the display device 30has been described. In FIG. 6, the number of display devices 30 is one.

However, as shown in FIG. 24, when multiple display devices that aregrouped are target devices for a display copy, the cloud 10 receivesinformation about a group of the multiple display devices from thegroup. In detail, the display device group A 2410 transmits, to thecloud 10, information about the number of display devices Device1through Device9 in the display device group A 2410, resolution of eachof the display devices Device1 through Device9, and an arranged shape ofthe display devices Device1 through Device9. The control server 130 ofthe cloud 10 registers the display device group A 2410 as a targetdevice based on the received information. Similarly, the display devicegroup B 2420 transmits, to the cloud 10, information about the number ofdisplay devices Device1 through Device4 in the display device group B2420, resolution of each of the display devices Device1 through Device4,and an arranged shape of the display devices Device1 through Device4.The control server 130 of the cloud 10 registers the display devicegroup B 2420 as a target device based on the received information.

FIG. 25 is a diagram for describing a process of performing by theelectronic device 20, a display copy targeting multiple display devicesthat are grouped, in the cloud 10, according to an exemplary embodiment.

In operation 2501, the electronic device 20 requests for a display copyon content. The display copy may be requested by clicking the displaycopy button 1303 or 1403 described above with reference to FIG. 13 or14.

In operation 2502, the electronic device 20 transmits the contentrequested to be display-copied to the control server 130.

In operation 2503, the control server 130 identifies a type of a targetdevice to display the content. Here, the identified target device may bea display device group 2500 including display devices Device1 throughDevice9.

In operation 2504, the control server 130 determines a rendering scaleof the content based on settings of the display device group 2500, forexample, information about the number of display devices Device1 throughDevice9, resolution of each of the display devices Device1 throughDevice9, and an arranged shape of the display devices Device1 throughDevice9. Here, the rendering scale may denote information about whetherto display pages of the content respectively on the display devicesDevice1 through Device9 or to display one page of the content on thedisplay devices Device1 through Device9 by splitting the one page, andabout resolution of the content to be rendered according to resolutionof a display device for displaying the content.

In operation 2505, the control server 130 commands the rendering server140 to render the content according to the rendering scale.

In operation 2506, the rendering server 140 renders or converts thecontent.

In operation 2507, the storage server 150 stores the rendered orconverted content.

In operation 2508, the control server 130 transmits a command to displaythe rendered or converted content to the agent application 35 of thedisplay device group 2500.

In operation 2509, the agent application 35 downloads the rendered orconverted content from the storage server 150.

In operation 2510, the display device group 2500 displays the contentrequested to be display-copied.

FIG. 26 is a diagram for describing displaying a singular page 2610 ofcontent on multiple display devices that are grouped, by splitting thesingular page 2610, according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 26, a display device group 2600 may include displaydevices Device1 through Device9 that are arranged in a 3×3 array form.The display device group 2600 may be, for example, an outdoor billboardor a video wall including large format displays LFD1 through LFD9. Thesingular page 2610 of the content requested to be display-copied issplit into nine pieces, and the nine pieces may be respectivelydisplayed on the display devices Device1 through device9. In otherwords, the display device group 2600 may display the singular page 2610of the content.

FIG. 27 is a diagram for describing displaying several pages 2701through 2709 of content respectively on multiple display devices thatare grouped, according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 27, a display device group 2700 may include displaydevices Device1 through Device9 arranged in a 3×3 array form. Thedisplay device group 2700 may be, for example, an outdoor billboard or avideo wall including large format displays LFD1 through LFD9. When thecontent requested to be display-copied include images of 9 pages 2701through 2709, the display devices Device1 through Device9 maysimultaneously and respectively display the 9 pages 2701 through 2709.In other words, the display device Device1 may display the page 2701 andthe display device Device9 may display the page 2709.

Alternatively, the display device group 2600 or 2700 may display pagesof content requested to be display-coped by combining methods describedabove with reference to FIGS. 26 and 27. In other words, one page of thecontent may be displayed through the display devices Devices1 throughDevice5, and pages of the content may be respectively displayed throughthe display devices Device6 through Device9. In other words, anexemplary embodiment is not limited.

FIG. 28A is a diagram for describing registering the display device 39in the cloud 10 by using a QR code 2801, according to an exemplaryembodiment.

Referring to FIG. 28A, the display device 30 displays a message “Pleasescan QR code to register TV in cloud” on a screen, together with the QRcode 2801.

A user may recognize the QR code 2801 displayed on the display device 30by using a camera module of the electronic device 20. The QR code 2801issued by the display device 30 may include information about IDinformation (a MAC address, a serial number, and an IP address) of thedisplay device 30 and a unique name (nickname) of the display device 30.Accordingly, by recognizing the QR code 2801, the electronic device 20may obtain the ID information and the unique name of the display device30.

The electronic device 20 transmits information obtained by recognizingthe QR code 2801 (the ID information and the unique name of the displaydevice 30) to the cloud 10.

The cloud 10 may register the display device 30 by using the informationreceived from the electronic device 20.

FIG. 28B is a diagram for describing registering the display device 30in the cloud 10 by manipulating the remote controller 37, according toan exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 28B, the display device 30 may display an input box2802 together with a message “Please input URL address to register TV incloud” on the display screen 311.

A user may manipulate the remote controller 37 to input a URL address“https://register.sam-cloud.com” of the cloud 10 to the input box 2802of the display device 30. The display device 30 accesses the URL addressto transmit information about ID information (a MAC address, a serialnumber, and an IP address) of the display device 30 and a unique name(nickname) of the display device 30 to the cloud 10.

The cloud 10 may register the display device 30 by using the informationreceived from the display device 30.

FIG. 29 is a diagram for describing a process of selecting, by a devicerequesting for a display copy, a display device by logging in to thecloud 10, according to an exemplary embodiment.

In operation 2901, a manager device (an electronic device 291 or a PC292) executes a management application, and a manager logs in to themanagement application via a manager account. Here, the managementapplication may be an application for managing a cloud service providedby the cloud 10.

In operation 2902, the cloud 10 transmits a list of display devicescurrently registered in the cloud 10 to the manager device.

In operation 2903, the manager device uses the management application toauthorize a user A's device (the electronic device 20 or the PC 52) touse a certain display device, such as the display device 30 (not shown).For example, when the manager receives a request to use the displaydevice 30 from the user A, the manager device uses the managementapplication to map the user A's device and the display device 30 fromthe list of display devices.

In operation 2904, the manager device transmits information aboutauthority of the user A's device to the cloud 10. For example, themanager device may transmit information that the user A's device isauthorized to use the display device 30 to the cloud 10.

In operation 2905, the cloud 10 updates the information about authority.Here, the cloud 10 may update a list of display devices the user A'sdevice is authorized to use, which is stored in the storage server 150(e.g., of FIG. 7).

In operation 2906, the user A's device executes an application for usinga cloud service, such as a display copy, and the user A logs in to theapplication.

In operation 2907, the cloud 10 transmits a list of display devices theuser A's device is authorized to use, to the user A's device.

In operation 2908, the user A's device displays the received list ofdisplay devices.

In operation 2909, the user A may select a display device to perform adisplay copy, for example, the display device 30, from the list ofdisplay devices displayed on the user A's device.

FIG. 30A is a block diagram of hardware components of the electronicdevice 20, according to an exemplary embodiment. The electronic device20 of FIG. 30A may correspond to the electronic device 20 (e.g., ofFIG. 1) described above. Thus, the operations of the electronic device20 described above may be performed by the hardware components of theelectronic device 20 of FIG. 30A.

An output unit 2010 outputs an audio signal, a video signal, or avibration signal, and may include a display unit 2011, a sound outputunit 2012, and a vibration motor 2013.

The display unit 2011 displays and outputs information processed by theelectronic device 20. For example, the display unit 2011 may displayphotos, images, or videos of a photo gallery application (similar to,e.g., the photo gallery application 1710 of FIG. 17) installed in theelectronic device 20. Also, the display unit 2011 may display web pagesor images in a web page executed in a web browsing application installedin the electronic device 20, and may display attached documents,attached photos, and mail buddies of a mail application. Furthermore, asdescribed above with reference to FIGS. 10 through 15, the display unit2011 may display a chat room screen (similar to, e.g., chat room screen1010 of FIG. 10) and chat messages of a messenger application installedin the electronic device 20, and may display a print application forperforming a function of a display copy. In other words, the displayunit 2011 may display various execution screens of applicationsinstalled in the electronic device 20, and content provided by theapplications.

When the display unit 2011 is configured as a touch screen by forming alayer structure with a touch pad, the display unit 2011 may be used asan input device as well as an output device. The display unit 2011 maybe realized in any one of various types, such as a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD), a thin-film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD),an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), a flexible display, a3-dimensional (3D) display, and an electrophoretic display.

The sound output unit 2012 outputs audio data received from acommunication unit 2040 or stored in a memory 2070. Also, the soundoutput unit 2012 outputs a sound signal related to a function formed bythe electronic device 20, such as a call signal reception sound, amessage reception sound, or an alarm sound. The sound output unit 2012may be a speaker or a buzzer.

The vibration motor 2013 may output a vibration signal. For example, thevibration motor 2013 may output a vibration signal corresponding tooutput of audio data or video data, such as a call signal receptionsound or a message reception sound. Also, the vibration motor 2013 mayoutput a vibration signal when a touch is input to the touch screen.

A user input unit 2020 is used by a user to input data for controllingthe electronic device 20. For example, the user input unit 2020 may be akey pad, a dome switch, a touch pad (e.g., a contact capacitance type, apressure resistance film type, an infrared ray detection type, a surfaceultrasonic conducting type, an integral tension measuring type, or apiezo-effect type), a jog wheel, or a jog switch, but is not limitedthereto.

The user input unit 2020 may receive a user input for selecting one ofvarious types of content displayed on the display unit 2011, or a userinput for preparing content (a document).

A controller 2030 is a hardware component including at least oneprocessor, and may control overall operations of the electronic device20. For example, the controller 2030 may execute programs stored in thememory 2070 to control the output unit 2010, the user input unit 2020,the communication unit 2040, a sensing unit 2050, and an audio/video(A/V) input unit 2060.

The controller 2030 may execute a photo gallery application (similar to,e.g., the photo gallery application 212 of FIG. 2), a web browsingapplication (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer), a mail application(e.g., Microsoft Outlook), or a document preparing application (e.g.,Microsoft Word, or Microsoft PowerPoint). Also, as described above withreference to FIGS. 10 through 15, the controller 2030 may execute amessenger application or a print application. Accordingly, the user mayuse applications executed by the controller 2030 to select or personallyprepare content to be display-copied, through the user input unit 2020.

The communication unit 2040 may include at least one component thatperforms communication between the electronic device 20 and the cloud 10or between the electronic device 20 and other electronic devices. Forexample, the communication unit 2040 may include a short-range wirelesscommunication unit 2041, a mobile communication unit 2042, and abroadcast receiver 2043.

The short-range wireless communication unit 2041 may include a Bluetoothcommunication unit 2041.1, a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) communicationunit 2041.2, a near field communication (NFC/RFID) unit 2041.3, awireless local area network (WLAN) (Wi-Fi) communication unit 2041.4, aZigbee communication unit 2041.5, an Ant+ communication unit 2041.6, aWi-Fi direct (WFD) communication unit 2041.7, an ultra-wideband (UWB)communication unit 2041.8, or an infrared data association (IrDA)communication unit (not shown), but is not limited thereto.

The mobile communication unit 2042 transmits and receives a wirelesssignal to and from at least one of a base station (not shown), anexternal terminal (not shown), and a server (not shown), on a mobilecommunication network (not shown). Here, the wireless signal may includedata in any format, such as a voice call signal, a video call signal, ora text/multimedia message.

The broadcast receiver 2043 receives a broadcast signal and/orbroadcast-related information from an external source (not shown)through a broadcast channel (not shown). The broadcast channel may be asatellite channel (not shown) or a terrestrial wave channel (not shown).According to an exemplary embodiment, the electronic device 20 may notinclude the broadcast receiver 2043.

When content is requested to be display-copied, the communication unit2040 may transmit the content to the cloud 10.

The sensing unit 2050 may detect information about a status of theelectronic device 20 or a surrounding status of the electronic device20, and transmit the detected information to the controller 2030.

The sensing unit 2050 may include at least one of a magnetic sensor2051, an acceleration sensor 2052, a temperature/humidity sensor 2053,an infrared sensor 2054, a gyroscope sensor 2055, a location sensor 2056like a global positioning system (GPS), an atmospheric pressure sensor2057, a proximity sensor 2058, and a red/green/blue (RGB) sensor(illuminance sensor) 2059, but is not limited thereto. Since functionsof the sensors included in the sensing unit 2050 are intuitivelyinferred by one of ordinary skill in the art based on their names,details thereof are not provided here.

The A/V input unit 2060 is used to input an audio signal or a videosignal, and may include a camera 2061 and a microphone 2062. The camera2061 may obtain an image frame, such as a still image or a moving image,via an image sensor in a video call mode or a photographing mode. Aphoto captured through the image sensor may be processed by thecontroller 2030. As such, an image captured by using the camera 2061 maybe displayed on the display unit 2011 through the photo galleryapplication, and the user may select the image as content requested tobe display-copied through the user input unit 2020.

An image frame processed by the camera 2061 may be stored in the memory2070 or transmitted to an external device, such as the cloud 10 (of FIG.1), through the communication unit 2040.

The microphone 2062 receives an external sound signal and processes theexternal sound signal to electric voice data. For example, themicrophone 2062 may receive a sound signal from an external device or aspeaker. The microphone 2062 may use various noise removing algorithmsto remove noise generated while receiving the external sound signal.

The memory 2070 may store programs for processes and controls of thecontroller 2030, and may also store various types of data, such asapplications and content (photos, documents, and images).

The memory 2070 may include at least one type of storage media, such asa flash memory type memory, a hard disk type memory, a multimedia cardmicro type memory, a card type memory (e.g., a secure digital (SD) orextreme digital (XD) memory), a random access memory (RAM), a staticrandom access memory (SRAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an electricallyerasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a programmableread-only memory (PROM), a magnetic memory, a magnetic disk, and anoptical disk. Also, the electronic device 20 may operate a web storagethat performs a storage function of the memory 2070 on the Internet.

FIG. 30B is a block diagram of hardware components of the electronicdevice 20, which perform an operation of a display copy, according to anexemplary embodiment. The hardware components of FIG. 30B may correspondto those of FIG. 30A related to the operation of the display copy, butare not limited thereto. Also, the operations of the electronic device20 described herein may be performed by those of FIG. 30B.

Referring to FIG. 30B, the electronic device 20 may include a UI unit201, a controller 202, and a network interface unit 203.

The UI unit 201 is a component that includes the output unit 2010 andthe user input unit 2020 of FIG. 30A. The UI unit 201 may displayphotos, images, or videos of the photo gallery application installed inthe electronic device 20. Also, the UI unit 201 may display web pages orimages in a web page being executed in the web browsing application, anddisplay attached documents, attached photos, or mail buddies of the mailapplication. Moreover, as described above with reference to FIGS. 10through 15, the display unit 2011 may display a chat room screen andchat messages of the messenger application installed in the electronicdevice 20, and display the print application for performing a functionof a display copy. In other words, the UI unit 201 may display variousexecution screens of applications installed in the electronic device 20and content provided by the applications.

The UI unit 201 may receive a user input of selecting one of varioustypes of content from applications being executed, or a user input ofpreparing content (a document).

The controller 202 is a hardware component that may correspond to thecontroller 2030 of FIG. 30A, and may control overall operations of theelectronic device 20. For example, the controller 202 may execute thephoto gallery application, the web browsing application, the mailapplication, or the document preparing application. Also, as describedabove with reference to FIGS. 10 through 15, the controller 202 mayexecute the messenger application or the print application. Accordingly,a user may use applications executed by the controller 202 to select orpersonally prepare content to be display-copied, through the UI unit201. Meanwhile, as described above with reference to FIGS. 10 through15, the user may share the content to be display-copied by using themessenger application executed by the controller 202 in the printapplication.

The network interface unit 203 is a hardware component that maycorrespond to the communication unit 2040 of FIG. 30A, and may transmitcontent to the cloud 10 when the content is requested to bedisplay-copied.

FIG. 31 is a block diagram of hardware components of the display device30, according to an exemplary embodiment. Operations of the displaydevice 30 described herein may be performed by the hardware componentsof the display device 30 of FIG. 31.

Referring to FIG. 31, the display device 30 includes a display unit 301,a sound output unit 302, a controller 303, a network interface unit 304,a memory 305, and a memory card connector 306.

The display unit 301 may correspond to the display screen 311 of FIG. 1,and may be realized in any one of various types, such as an LCD, aTFT-LCD, an OLED, a flexible display, a 3D display, and anelectrophoretic display.

When the display device 30 is a TV, the display unit 301 may displaybroadcast data, and when the display device 30 is an LFD, the displayunit 301 may display a commercial, a guide screen, or broadcast data.Also, as described above with reference to FIG. 3, since the displaydevice 30 may be the electronic device 20 (a smart phone), theelectronic device 62 (a tablet device), the laptop 63, or the PC 64, thedisplay device 30 may display execution screens of various applications.

The sound output unit 302 outputs audio of broadcast data. Also, thesound output unit 302 may output a sound signal related to a functionperformed by the display device 30, such as a call signal receptionsound, a message reception sound, or an alarm sound. The sound outputunit 302 may be a speaker or a buzzer.

The controller 303 is a hardware component realized by at least oneprocessor, and may control overall functions and operations of thehardware components of the display device 30.

The controller 303 may execute the agent application 35 for supporting acloud service, such as a display copy.

The network interface unit 304 may receive a broadcast signal and/orbroadcast-related information from an external source through abroadcast channel, such as a satellite channel or a terrestrial wavechannel, by using a broadcast receiving module. Also, the networkinterface unit 304 may access the Internet or Intranet, wiredly orwirelessly by using a Wi-Fi module or an Ethernet module. The displaydevice 30 may communicate with the cloud 10 by using the networkinterface unit 304.

The memory 305 may store programs for processes or controls of thecontroller 303, and may store various types of data, such as broadcastdata, commercial data, applications, and content (photos, documents, andimages). In detail, the memory 305 may store the agent application 35(e.g., of FIG. 6) for supporting a cloud service, such as a displaycopy. Also, the memory 305 may store various types of ID information ofthe display device 30 and a unique name of the display device 30. Here,the ID information may include a MAC address, a serial number, and an IPaddress of the network interface unit 304, and the unique name may be anickname arbitrarily set by a user.

The memory 305 may include at least one type of storage media, such as aflash memory type memory, a hard disk type memory, a multimedia cardmicro type memory, a card type memory (e.g., an SD or XD memory), anRAM, an SRAM, an ROM, an EEPROM, a PROM, a magnetic memory, a magneticdisk, and an optical disk.

The memory card connector 306 is a hardware component connectable to anexternal portable or removable storage device, such as a USB storagedevice or an SD card. The memory card connector 306 may receive datastored in the USB device or the SD card from the USB device or the SDcard. For example, the memory card connector 306 may receive aninstallation file of the agent application 35 stored in the USB deviceor the SD card. The controller 303 may execute the installation file ofthe agent application 35 to install the agent application 35 in thedisplay device 30.

Operations of the display device 30 related to a display copy will nowbe described in detail.

Referring to other drawings and FIG. 31 together, when the agentapplication 35 is installed in the display device 30, the controller 303executes the agent application 35. When the agent application 35 isexecuted, the display device 30 may transmit various types of IDinformation of the display device 30 and a unique name of the displaydevice 30 to the cloud 10 through the network interface unit 304 inorder to be registered in the cloud 10. When the user inputs logininformation assigned to the display device 30 to access the cloud 10after the display device 30 is registered in the cloud 10, the networkinterface unit 304 transmits the login information to the cloud 10 suchthat the display device 30 logs in to the cloud 10.

Referring to other drawings and FIG. 31 together, when content (an imagefile) requested to be display-copied is stored in the storage server 150(e.g., of FIG. 5) of the cloud 10 (e.g., of FIG. 5), the networkinterface unit 304 downloads the content from the storage server 150. Atthis time, the network interface unit 304 may receive a URL addressindicating an address of a directory of the storage server 150, in whichrendered content (an image file or a compressed file) is stored, fromthe cloud 10, and access the URL address to download the renderedcontent.

The controller 303 controls the rendered content received from the cloud10 to be displayed through the display unit 301, thereby completing theoperation of the display copy. If the compressed file is received fromthe cloud 10, the controller 303 may decompress the compressed file toextract the image file, and control the image file to be displayedthrough the display unit 301, thereby completing the operation of thedisplay copy.

FIG. 32 is a diagram for describing a cloud system 3200 that prints orcopies a document scanned by the image forming apparatus 54 to a displayscreen (e.g., the display screen 311 of FIG. 1) of a TV (e.g., thedisplay device 30 of FIG. 1), according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 32, the cloud system 3200 includes the cloud 10, theimage forming apparatus 54, and the display device 30. In the cloudsystem 1, the image forming apparatus 54 and the display device 30 maybe connected to each other via the cloud 10. Comparing the cloud system3200 of FIG. 32 with the cloud system 1 of FIG. 1, a source devicerequesting for a display copy is the image forming apparatus 54, not theelectronic device 20, in the cloud system 3200 of FIG. 32. Thus, insteadof requesting to display-copy content stored in the electronic device 20as described above, a document scanned by the image forming apparatus 54may be requested to be display-copied in the cloud system 3200.Accordingly, the operations of the cloud system 1 including theelectronic device 20 may be similarly applied to those of the cloudsystem 3200 including the image forming apparatus 54.

In detail, the image forming apparatus 54 generates scan data 3220 byscanning a document 3210, and assigns the display device 30 to which thescan data 3220 is to be transmitted, through a chat room. Then, theimage forming apparatus 54 transmits the scan data 3220 and informationabout the display device 30 to the cloud 10. When the scan data 3220 isdisplayable on the display device 30, the cloud 10 may transmit the scandata 3220 to the display device 30 without performing a separateconverting process. In other words, file formats of the scan data 3220and scan data 3230 are the same because the image forming apparatus 54is able to generate the scan data 3220 in a file format of a PDF file ora graphic file, such as “*.jpg” file or “*.bmp” file. However, when thescan data 3220 is not displayable on the display device 30, the cloud 10converts the scan data 3220 to be displayable on the display device 30.In other words, the cloud 10 converts the scan data 3220 to the scandata 3230 displayable on the display device 30.

The cloud 10 transmits the scan data 3230 to the display device 30. Thedisplay device 30 displays the scan data 3230 on the display screen,thereby completing an operation of a display copy requested by the imageforming apparatus 54.

As such, a function of the cloud system 3200 outputting a documentscanned by the image forming apparatus 54 on the display screen 311 ofthe display device 30 may be defined by a term “Scan-to-DisplayCopy”.Such a function may be replaced by another term having a similar meaningas the term “Scan-to-DisplayCopy”.

FIG. 33 is a diagram for describing operations of the cloud 10 forperforming, by the cloud system 3200, a function of Scan-to-DisplayCopy,according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 33, a document scanned by the image forming apparatus54 may be display-copied on the display screen 311 of the display device30 through the cloud 10.

In operation 3301, the agent application 35 installed in the displaydevice 30 is registered in the print service server 110. As describedabove with reference to FIG. 6, when the agent application 35 transmitsID information (a MAC address, a serial number, and an IP address) ofthe display device 30 and a unique name of the display device 30 to theprint service server 110, the print service server 110 stores the IDinformation and the unique name in the storage server 150 and registersthe agent application 35 and the display device 30 in which the agentapplication 35 is installed. Also, the agent application 35 may transmitlogin information (ID and a password) of a user. At this time, the printservice server 110 may map and manage the login information and the IDinformation of the display device 30.

In operation 3302, the agent application 35 logs in to the messageserver 120. The agent application 35 transmits the login information ofthe user of the display device 30, which is input by manipulating a UIincluded in the display device 30 or a remote controller, to the messageserver 120. The message server 120 transmits the login information tothe control server 130, and the control server 130 determines whetherlogin is succeeded by comparing login information pre-stored in thestorage server 150 and the received login information. Meanwhile, thestorage server 150 may perform a function of a LDAP server for managingemployee information of a company, and the control server 130 maydetermine whether login is succeeded based on whether matching logininformation exists in the LDAP server of the storage server 150.

In operation 3303, the image forming apparatus 54 logs in to the messageserver 120. A print application for performing a function ofScan-to-DisplayCopy may be pre-installed in the image forming apparatus54. After executing the print application, the image forming apparatus54 inputs login information of the user of the image forming apparatus54. Then, the print application of the image forming apparatus 54transmits the login information to the message server 120, and thecontrol server 130 determines whether login is succeeded by comparingthe received login information and login information pre-stored in thestorage server 150.

In operation 3304, when the image forming apparatus 54 is logged in, thecontrol server 130 generates or initiates a chat room. An account of theuser of the image forming apparatus 54, an account of the user of thedisplay device 30, or an account of a third person may be invited to thechat room. Meanwhile, an account assigned to the display device 30 maybe invited to the chat room.

In operation 3305, the image forming apparatus 54 generates scan data(scanned document) by scanning a document.

In operation 3306, the image forming apparatus 54 transmits metadata(e.g., file format information, file size information, and file nameinformation) of the scan data (of the scanned document) that isrequested to be display-copied, to the message server 120. At this time,the scan data (of the scanned document) may be in a file format (such asa “*.doc” file or a “*.ppt” file) that is not immediately displayable onthe display device 30 or in a file format (such as a “*.jpg” file or a“*.bmp” file) that is immediately displayable on the display device 30.When the scan data (of the scanned document) is in a file format that isimmediately displayable on the display device 30, operation 3308 may beskipped, and rendered or converted scan data (of the scanned document)described in operations 3308 through 3314 may be replaced by the scandata (of the scanned document) received from the image forming apparatus54.

In operation 3307, the control server 130 generates a rendering commandfor performing a rendering operation on the scan data (of the scanneddocument) received from the image forming apparatus 54, and transmitsthe rendering command to the print service server 110.

In operation 3308, the print service server 110 transmits the renderingcommand to the rendering server 140. The rendering server 140 renders orconverts the scan data (of the scanned document) received from the imageforming apparatus 54 to an image file type in a graphic file formataccording to the rendering command. Also, the rendering server 140 mayadditionally generate a compressed file (e.g., a ZIP file) of therendered or converted scan data (of the scanned document).

In operation 3309, the rendering server 140 stores the rendered orconverted scan data (of the scanned document) in the storage server 150.

In operation 3310, when the rendering operation is completed, therendering server 140 notifies the print service server 110 that therendering operation is completed. In other words, the rendering server140 updates a status of the rendering operation to indicate that therendering operation is completed. For example, the rendering server 140may receive rendering commands for a display copy not only from theimage forming apparatus 54, but also from many other devices. Thus, therendering server 140 may generate a queue of rendering operationsaccording to an order in which the rendering operations are requested,and then update a status of a rendering operation included in the queueaccording to an order in which the rendering operations are completed.

In operation 3311, the print service server 110 notifies the messageserver 120 that the rendering operation is completed.

In operation 3312, the control server 130 commands the agent application35 to display the rendered or converted scan data (of the scanneddocument) requested by the image forming apparatus 54 forScan-to-DisplayCopy. Here, the control server 130 may command the agentapplication 35 to display a certain page, for example, a first page, ofthe rendered or converted scan data (of the scanned document).

In operation 3313, the agent application 35 downloads the rendered orconverted scan data (of the scanned document) from the storage server150. Here, the storage server 150 may provide information about a webaddress or URL of the storage server 150 in which the rendered orconverted scan data (of the scanned document) is stored to the agentapplication 35, and the agent application 35 may access the web addressor URL of the storage server 150 to receive the rendered or convertedscan data (of the scanned document).

In operation 3314, the agent application 35 controls the display device30 such that the scan data (of the scanned document) requested forScan-to-DisplayCopy is displayed on the display screen of the displaydevice 30.

Here, a target device having a function of Scan-to-DisplayCopy may bemultiple display devices, such as the display device group A 2410 or thedisplay device group B 2420 of FIG. 24, instead of the display device30.

FIG. 34 is a diagram for describing reproducing, by the display device30, documents scanned by the image forming apparatus 54, in a slideshow, according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 34, the image forming apparatus 54 generates scan data3430 by scanning a document 3410 in a plurality of pages. Then, theimage forming apparatus 54 displays a UI screen 3420 displaying settings3425 for reproducing the pages of the document 3410 in a slide show.

The settings 3425 may include a setting on an automatic screen changetime 3425.1, a setting on a change effect 3425.2, a repetition setting3425.3, and a section setting 3425.4. The settings 3425 input throughthe image forming apparatus 54 may be converted to metadata 3440.

The image forming apparatus 54 transmits the scan data 3430 and themetadata 3440 of the settings 3425 to the cloud 10.

The cloud 10 transmits scan data 3450 and the metadata 3440 to thedisplay device 30.

The display device 30 reproduces document images of each page includedin the scan data 3450 based on the settings 3425 included in themetadata 3440. For example, images 3461 and 3462 may be changed atintervals of 10 seconds in a flying effect, as set by the image formingapparatus 54.

FIG. 35 is a diagram for describing reproducing, by a plurality ofdisplay devices, documents scanned by the image forming apparatus 54, ina slide show, according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 35, as described above with reference to FIG. 34, theimage forming apparatus 54 displays a UI screen 3510 displaying settings3515 for a slide show. However, unlike the UI screen 3420 of FIG. 34,the UI screen 3510 of FIG. 35 may provide an input box 3517 forassigning a target device for Scan-to-DisplayCopy. When TVs 31 and 32are assigned as target devices for Scan-To-DisplayCopy, the cloud 10 maytransmit scan data 3520 (image files or a ZIP file) and metadata 3530 toeach of the TVs 31 and 32. Accordingly, each of the TVs 31 and 32 mayreproduce pages included in the scan data 3520 in a slide show based onthe settings 3515 included in the metadata 3530. In other words, afunction of Scan-to-DisplayCopy requested from the image formingapparatus 54 may be independently performed by several different displaydevices, such as the TVs 31 and 32.

FIGS. 36A through 36D are diagrams for describing setting, by the imageforming apparatus 54, a screen display phrase of the display device 30,according to exemplary embodiments.

Referring to FIGS. 36A through 36D, display settings on the screendisplay phrase of the display device 30 may be input through anoperation panel 5400 of the image forming apparatus 54. Informationabout the display settings input through the operation panel 5400 of theimage forming apparatus 54 may be transmitted to the display device 30through the cloud 10.

Referring to FIG. 36A, a user may directly input a screen display phrase“Today's subject is marketing strategy in US market” through a settingscreen 3601 displayed on the operation panel 5400. The screen displayphrase set as such may be displayed in a margin 3600 where content isnot displayed on the screen of the display device 30.

Referring to FIG. 36B, the user may input a phone number of a smartphone to which an SMS or MMS is to be provided, through a setting screen3602 displayed on the operation panel 5400. Accordingly, the SMS or MMSmay be displayed in the margin 3600.

Referring to FIG. 36C, the user may input SNS account information (IDand a password) for logging in to an SNS server, through a settingscreen 3603 displayed on the operation panel 5400. Accordingly, a recentposting updated in an SNS may be displayed in the margin 3600.

Referring to FIG. 36D, the user may input information (a server address,ID, and a password) for identifying and logging in to a web server,through a setting screen 3604 displayed on the operation panel 5400.Accordingly, a recent notice updated in the web server may be displayedin the margin 3600.

FIG. 37 is a diagram for describing requesting, by the image formingapparatus 54, for Scan-to-DisplayCopy by scanning a photo 3710 includinga QR code 3715, according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 37, the image forming apparatus 54 generates scan data3720 by scanning the photo 3710 including the QR code 3715. Then, theimage forming apparatus 54 transmits the scan data 3720 to the cloud 10.

The cloud 10 transmits scan data 3730 about the photo 3710 to thedisplay device 30 via the agent application 35.

The agent application 35 of the display device 30 recognizes the QR code3715 when an image of the QR code 3715 is included in the photo 3710 ofthe scan data 3730. For example, when the QR code 3715 indicates acertain URL address (“http://www.car-information.com”), the agentapplication 35 may analyze the QR code 3715 and recognize the certainURL address.

When a margin 3740 is set in the display screen 311 of the displaydevice 30, the display device 30 may display the certain URL address ofthe QR code 3715 in the margin 3740, and display a photo 3750 includingthe QR code 3715 in another region of the display screen 311.

FIG. 38 is a diagram for describing a process of performing, by theimage forming apparatus 54, Scan-to-DisplayCopy targeting multipledisplay devices that are grouped, according to an exemplary embodiment.

In operation 3801, the image forming apparatus 54 scans a document.

In operation 3802, the image forming apparatus 54 requests the scanneddocument (scan data) for Scan-to-DisplayCopy.

In operation 3803, the image forming apparatus 54 transmits the scanneddocument (or scan data indicative of the scanned document) to thecontrol server 130.

In operation 3804, the control server 130 identifies a type of a targetdevice to display the scanned document (or scan data indicative of thescanned document). Here, the identified target device may correspond toa display device group 3800 including display devices Device1 throughDevice9.

In operation 3805, the control server 130 determines a rendering scaleof the scanned document based on settings of the display device group3800, for example, a number of the display devices Device1 throughDevice9, resolution of each of the display devices Device1 throughDevice9, and an arrangement of the display devices Device1 throughDevice9. Here, the rendering scale may indicate whether to display pagesof the scanned document respectively on the display devices Device1through Device9 or to display one page of the scanned document on thedisplay devices Device1 through Device9 by splitting the one page, andresolution of the scanned document to be rendered according toresolution of a display device on which the scanned document is to bedisplayed.

In operation 3806, the control server 130 commands the rendering server140 to render the scanned document according to the rendering scale.

In operation 3807, the rendering server 140 renders or converts thescanned document.

In operation 3808, the storage server 150 stores the rendered orconverted scanned document.

In operation 3809, the control server 130 transmits a command to displaythe rendered or converted scanned document to the agent application 35of the display device group 3800.

In operation 3810, the agent application 35 downloads the rendered orconverted scanned document from the storage server 150.

In operation 3811, the display device group 3800 displays the scanneddocument requested for Scan-to-DisplayCopy.

FIG. 39 is a block diagram of hardware components of the image formingapparatus 54, according to an exemplary embodiment. The hardwarecomponents of the image forming apparatus 54 of FIG. 39 may correspondto only those related to an operation of a display copy, but are notlimited thereto. The image forming apparatus 54 of FIG. 38 mayadditionally include other general-purpose components. Also, operationsof the image forming apparatus 54 described herein may be performed bythe hardware components of the image forming apparatus 54 of FIG. 39.Moreover, operations of the electronic device 20 described herein mayalso be applied to the image forming apparatus 54 of FIG. 39.

A scanning unit 541 generates scan data (a scan image file or a scanneddocument) by scanning a document.

A controller 542 may control overall functions of the image formingapparatus 54. For example, the controller 542 may control a scanoperation of the scanning unit 541, control display of informationthrough an operation panel 543, process information input through theoperation panel 543, or control data transmission and reception of anetwork interface unit 544. The controller 542 may execute a printapplication or a messenger application, which supports a function ofScan-to-DisplayCopy, installed in the image forming apparatus 54.

The operation panel 543 displays the print application or the messengerapplication (a chat room application) supporting the function ofScan-to-DisplayCopy. The operation panel 543 may display a chat room inwhich the image forming apparatus 54 and at least one device, such asthe display device 30, are participating. When the scanning performed bythe scanning unit 541 is completed, the operation panel 543 may displaythe print application or the messenger application to display a UIscreen for setting a target device, such as the display device 30, forrequesting Scan-to-DisplayCopy with respect to the scan data. Theoperation panel 543 may receive a user input of assigning the targetdevice (the display device 30) through the UI screen. In other words,the operation panel 543 corresponds to an input/output hardware thatdisplays information processed by the image forming apparatus 54 orreceives information from a user.

When Scan-to-DisplayCopy is requested, the network interface unit 544may transmit the scan data to the cloud 10. Also, the network interfaceunit 544 may transmit information about the target device to the cloud10. The network interface unit 544 may access the Internet or intranetvia wires or wirelessly by using any one of wired/wireless communicationunits, such as a Wi-Fi module and an Ethernet module. The networkinterface unit 544 may transmit information about the target deviceassigned through the operation panel 543 to the cloud 10.

Meanwhile, the hardware components of the image forming apparatus 54 ofFIG. 39 may perform the functions of Scan-to-DisplayCopy described abovewith reference to FIGS. 32 through 38. For example, the UI screens 3420and 3510 described in FIGS. 34 and 35 may be displayed through theoperation panel 543 of FIG. 39. Also, the operation panel 5400 of theimage forming apparatus 54 of FIGS. 36A through 36D corresponds to theoperation panel 543 of FIG. 39, and the image forming apparatus 54 ofFIG. 39 may set a phrase to be displayed on the display device 30. Thecontroller 542 may process information input through the UI screens 3420and 3510 and the operation panel 5400, and the network interface unit544 may transmit the processed information to the cloud 10.

FIG. 40 is a flowchart of a method of providing, by the cloud 10, acloud service for displaying content, according to an exemplaryembodiment. Referring to FIG. 40, the method according to the currentembodiment includes operations that are performed in time-series by thecloud 10 described above. Thus, details about the cloud 10 describedabove may be applied to the method of FIG. 40 even if not explicitlydiscussed.

In operation 4001, the message server 120 (first server) receives asharing request for content from the electronic device 20.

In operation 4002, the print service server 110 (second server)determines whether the content is displayable on the display device 30connected to the cloud 10 based on a type of a file format of thecontent.

In operation 4003, the rendering server 140 (third server) renders thecontent to an image file when it is determined that the content is notdisplayable.

In operation 4004, the control server 130 (fourth server) controls anyone of the content and the image file to be displayed on the displaydevice 30.

FIG. 41 is a flowchart of a method of providing, by the cloud 10, acloud service for displaying scan data, according to an exemplaryembodiment. Referring to FIG. 41, the method according to the currentembodiment includes operations that are performed in time-series by thecloud 10 described above. Thus, details about the cloud 10 describedabove may be applied to the method of FIG. 41 even if not explicitlydiscussed.

In operation 4101, the image forming apparatus 54 generates scan data byscanning a document.

In operation 4102, the image forming apparatus 54 assigns the displaydevice 30 to which the scan data is to be transmitted, through a chatroom.

In operation 4103, the cloud 10 receives the scan data and informationabout the display device 30 (e.g., of FIG. 1) from the image formingapparatus 54 (e.g., of FIG. 2).

In operation 4104, the cloud 10 transmits the scan data to the displaydevice 30.

In operation 4105, the display device 30 displays the scan data receivedfrom the cloud 10.

Hereinafter, various embodiments of storing content (or scan data)requested for display copy or Scan-to-DisplayCopy by a source device,such as the electronic device 20 (e.g., of FIG. 1), the PC 52 (e.g., ofFIG. 3), or the image forming apparatus 54, in the cloud 10 will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 42 through 44.

FIG. 42 is a diagram for describing storing, by the cloud 10, content,according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 42, the print service server 110 may include a webserver 4201 and a REST API package 4202, and the storage server 150 mayinclude a Riak CS 4203 and a database 4204.

A source device (the electronic device 20, the PC 52, or the imageforming apparatus 54) requesting for display copy (orScan-to-DisplayCopy) transmits content (or scan data) to the web server4201 of the cloud 10.

The REST API package 4202 analyzes the content received by the webserver 4201 to a file or file information (string). Here, when thecontent is an image file (document file), the file (content data) maycorrespond to image data (document data) and the file information maycorrespond to metadata including an extension, a generated date, andcapacity of the image file (document file). In other words, the fileinformation may be metadata included in the sharing request receivedfrom the message server 120, which has been described above.

In the storage server 150, the file (content data) is distributed andstored in the database 4204, and the file information (string) includingthe extension, the generated date, and the capacity, is distributed andstored in the Riak CS 4203. In other words, the storage server 150distributes and stores the content received from the source device inthe database 4204 and the Riak CS 4203.

FIG. 43 is a diagram for describing storing, by the cloud 10, content,according to another exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 43, the print server 110 may include the web server4201 and the REST API package 4202, and the storage server 150 mayinclude the Riak CS 4203 and the database 4204.

A source device (the electronic device 20, the PC 52, or the imageforming apparatus 54) requesting for display copy (orScan-to-DisplayCopy) transmits content (or scan data) to the web server4201 of the cloud 10.

The web server 4201 requests the Riak CS 4203 for a URL address of theRiak CS 4203 for storing file information (string). Then, the web server4201 transmits the URL address of the Riak CS 4203 to the source device.

The source device accesses the URL address and transmits the fileinformation (string) including an extension, a generated date, andcapacity of the content, to the Riak CS 4203. The Riak CS 4203 storesthe file information (string). Accordingly, the Riak CS 4203 may berelated to the message server 120 that receives a sharing requestincluding metadata about content described above.

The REST API package 4202 distributes and stores a file (image data ordocument data) excluding the file information (string), which is aboutthe content received by the web server 4201, in the database 4204.

FIG. 44 is a diagram for describing storing, by the cloud 10, content,according to another exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 44, the print service server 110 may include the webserver 4201, the REST API package 4202, and a storage controller 4205,and the storage server 150 may include the Riak CS 4203 and the database4204.

A source device (the electronic device 20, the PC 52, or the imageforming apparatus 54) requesting for display copy (orScan-to-DisplayCopy) transmits content (or scan data) to the Riak CS4203 of the cloud 10. Here, the source device may transmit the contentby accessing a URL address of the Riak CS 4203, which is pre-provided bythe web server 4201.

The Riak CS 4203 stores the content. Then, the storage controller 4205analyzes the content stored in the Riak CS 4203 to classify the contentinto file information (string), such as an extension, a generated date,and capacity of the content, and a file (image data or document data).

Then, the storage controller 4205 controls the Riak CS 4203 to storeonly the file information (string). Then, the storage controller 4205calls the REST API package 4202 to store the file in the database 4204.

The REST API package 4202 distributes and stores the file (image data ordocument data) excluding the file information (string), which is aboutthe content received by the web server 4201, in the database 4204.

FIG. 45 is a diagram for describing a process of providing a history ofcontent shared in a chat room, according to an exemplary embodiment.

In FIG. 45, an electronic device 451 of a user A and an electronicdevice 452 of a user B are illustrated, but a number of devices mayvary.

In operation 4501, the control server 130 opens a chat room requested bythe electronic device 452, the electronic device 452, or another device,and manages the chat room.

In operation 4502, the electronic device 451 participates in the chatroom.

In operation 4503, the electronic device 452 participates in the chatroom. In other words, the users A and B may chat through the chat roomand share content with each other. Although FIG. 45 does not show thedisplay device 30 for performing a display copy, but it is assumed thatthe display device 30 is already participating in the chat room.

In operation 4504, the electronic device 451 shares content A in thechat room.

In operation 4505, the electronic device 452 shares content B in thechat room.

In operation 4506, the control server 130 manages a history of content(the content A and the content B) shared in the chat room. For example,the control server 130 may manage a file name of the content A,information about the user A who shared the content A, information abouta time when the content A is shared, and capacity information of thecontent A. Also, the history may include list of users and devicesparticipating in the chat room at a point of time when the content A wasshared.

In operation 4507, the control server 130 stores the history in thestorage server 150.

In operation 4508, if the user B wants to view the history, theelectronic device 452 may request the control server 130 for informationabout the history.

In operation 4509, the storage server 150 and the control server 130transmits the information about the history to the electronic device452. Here, the history may include the file name of the content A, theinformation about the user A who shared the content A, the informationabout the time when the content A is shared, the capacity information ofthe content A, a file name of the content B, information about the userB who shared the content B, information about a time when the content Bis shared, capacity information of the content B, the lists of users anddevices participating in the chat room at the point of time when thecontent A was shared, and lists of users and devices participating inthe chat room at a point of time when the content B was shared.

In operation 4501, the electronic device 452 displays the history.

FIG. 46 is a diagram for describing a UI 4601 displaying a history 4602of content transmitted by a user through a chat room, according to anexemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 46, the UI 4601 may display information about thehistory 4602 of content shared through the chat room. For example, it isassumed that the UI 4601 is displayed on the electronic device 451 ofFIG. 45 or on a PC (e.g., the PC 64 of FIG. 3).

The UI 4601 displays the history 4602 of content transmitted by the userA from among content shared through the chat room. For example, the userA transmitted File_file_(—)001.xxx and File_file_(—)005.xxx through achat room Room1, and transmitted File_file_(—)002.xxx through a chatroom Room2. The history 4602 displayed on the UI 4601 may also displayinformation that the user A and other users/devices were participatingwhen the user A transmitted File_file_(—)001.xxx at 4:36:46 PM on 5 Dec.2013 through the chat room Room1.

FIG. 47 is a diagram for describing a UI 4701 displaying a history 4702of content received by a user through a chat room, according to anexemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 47, the UI 4701 may display information about thehistory 4702 of content shared through the chat room. For example, it isassumed that the UI 4701 is displayed on the electronic device 451 ofFIG. 45 or on a PC (e.g., the PC 64 of FIG. 3).

The UI 4701 displays the history 4702 of content received by the user Afrom among content shared through the chat room. For example, the user Areceived File_file_(—)006.xxx and File_file_(—)008.xxx through a chatroom Room1, and received File_file_(—)007.xxx through a chat room Room2.The history 4702 displayed on the UI 4701 may also display informationabout a sender and a sent time, together with information about the chatroom Room1 or Room2.

The exemplary embodiments may be written as computer programs and may beimplemented in general-use digital computers that execute the programsusing a computer-readable recording medium. Also, structures of dataused in the exemplary embodiments may be recorded on thecomputer-readable recording medium via various methods. Examples of thecomputer-readable recording medium include magnetic storage media (e.g.,ROM, floppy disks, hard disks, etc.), optical recording media (e.g.,CD-ROMs, or DVDs), etc.

It should be understood that the exemplary embodiments described thereinshould be considered in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes oflimitation. Descriptions of features or aspects within each exemplaryembodiment should typically be considered as available for other similarfeatures or aspects in other exemplary embodiments. While one or moreexemplary embodiments have been described with reference to the figures,it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that variouschanges in form and details may be made therein without departing fromthe spirit and scope as defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A cloud providing a cloud service for displayingcontent, the cloud comprising: a first server configured to receive asharing request for content, from an electronic device; a second serverconfigured to determine whether the content is displayable on a displaydevice connected to the cloud, based on a type of a file format of thecontent; a third server configured to render the content and generate animage file from the rendered content, when it is determined that thecontent is not displayable; and a fourth server configured to controldisplay of one of the content and the image file on the display device.2. The cloud of claim 1, wherein the fourth server is configured tocontrol the display of the content on the display device when it isdetermined that the content is displayable, and control the display ofthe image file on the display device when it is determined that thecontent is not displayable.
 3. The cloud of claim 1, further comprisinga fifth server configured to store the content received from theelectronic device and further store the image file when the content isrendered.
 4. The cloud of claim 3, wherein the fifth server isconfigured to provide a uniform resource locator (URL) addresscorresponding to an address of a directory in which the content or theimage file is stored, to the display device.
 5. The cloud of claim 1,wherein the display device comprises at least one of a television (TV),a large format display (LFD), a tablet device, and a smart phone.
 6. Thecloud of claim 1, wherein the fourth server is configured to manage achat room in which the electronic device and at least one other deviceare participating, and the at least one other device participating inthe chat room comprises the display device, and the electronic device isconfigured to assign the display device as a target device fordisplaying the content.
 7. The cloud of claim 6, wherein the content isshared by the electronic device or the at least one other device throughthe chat room.
 8. The cloud of claim 1, wherein the first servercomprises an extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP) serverconfigured to map and manage network address information of theelectronic device and network address information of the display device.9. The cloud of claim 1, wherein the second server is realized as arepresentational state transfer application programming interface (RESTAPI) module for an agent application installed in the display device andcapable of communicating with the cloud, the second server is configuredto receive network address information and nickname information of thedisplay device from the display device and register the networkinformation and nickname information, and the fourth server isconfigured to control the second server by transmitting a command to thesecond server such that the second server determines the type of thefile format when the first server receives the sharing request for thecontent.
 10. The cloud of claim 1, wherein the fourth server isconfigured to control the display device to display a first page of thecontent or the image file.
 11. The cloud of claim 1, wherein the thirdserver is configured to generate a compressed file by compressing theimage file, and the cloud further comprises a fifth server configured tostore the compressed file and provide the stored compressed file to thedisplay device.
 12. The cloud of claim 11, wherein the fifth servercomprises Riak cloud storage (CS) and a database, wherein the Riak CS isconfigured to receive the content from the electronic device, store astring indicating file information of the content, and transmit a filein the content to the database.
 13. A system providing a cloud servicefor displaying content, the system comprising: an electronic deviceconfigured to transmit content; a cloud configured to receive thecontent, determine a file format of the content, and render the contentto generate an image file when it is determined that, based on a type ofthe file format, the content is not displayable on a display deviceconnected to the cloud; and a display device configured to receive oneof the content and the image file from the cloud, and display thereceived one of the content or the image file.
 14. The system of claim13, wherein the cloud is configured to control the display device todisplay the content when it is determined that, based on the type of thefile format, the content is displayable on the display device, and todisplay the image file when it is determined that, based on the type ofthe file format, the content is not displayable on the display device.15. The system of claim 13, wherein the electronic device is configuredto display a chat room in which the electronic device and the displaydevice are participating, and, when the content is shared through thechat room, display at least one of a first button for requesting toprint the content, a second button for storing the content, and a thirdbutton for requesting to display the content, together with the content.16. The system of claim 15, wherein the cloud is configured to receivethe content from the electronic device when the third button is selectedfrom the electronic device, and transmit the image file obtained byrendering the content to the display device.
 17. The system of claim 13,wherein the display device is registered in the cloud by using an agentapplication configured to provide network address information andnickname information of the display device to the cloud.
 18. The systemof claim 13, wherein the display device is registered in the cloud viaat least one of input of a personal identification number (PIN) codeissued by the cloud, recognition of a quick response (QR) code includinginformation about the display device and issued by the display device,and input of a uniform resource locator (URL) address of the cloud. 19.A method of providing a cloud service for displaying content, the methodcomprising: receiving, by a first server, a sharing request for contentfrom an electronic device; determining, by a second server, whether thecontent is displayable on a display device connected to a cloud, basedon a type of a file format of the content; rendering, by a third server,the content to generate an image file when it is determined that thecontent is not displayable; and controlling, by a fourth server, displayof any one of the content and the image file on the display device. 20.A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recordedthereon a program, which when executed by a computer, performs themethod of claim 19.